 get the details on an unfortunate lightning incident that occurred during a schoolboy football game in Jamaica on Tuesday. The incident happened in Linstead, St. Catherine, during a Dacosta Cup match at the Chalamar High School field between the host and Dinhill Technical. Multiple persons were taken to hospital, including three players and a member of the Dinhill Technical staff and one match official. Everton Burke, the manager of the Dinhill Technical team, joins us with further details. Good afternoon, Everton. How are you? Good afternoon. I'm good so far. All right, so I'll start by asking you to give us an update on the players who were hospitalized and the referee if you have any updated information. Well, out of the three players that that was hospitalized, two were released, one last night and one about an hour ago and the other one is ready for release. So I'll be there in short. Okay, and Everton, how are the players doing, you know, mentally, physically? What have the ones that are released? What have they said to you? Well, he's in good spirit, not feeling any pain or anything like that. He was traumatized about the whole event that took place. It's not the first time this has happened in Schoolboy Football in 2019. Wilma's and JC, that match was stopped because five players were hit by lightning as the man involved in managing this team and, you know, involved in Schoolboy Football. Are you concerned about this if it becomes something that's regular? Well, I am, I am definitely I am because this could have been worse. It could have been fatal. And we are very thankful that it didn't take that turn. And I must say thanks to Alu assistant in getting these players and official to the hospital. All right. So very concerned about this type of phenomenon. Yeah. And of course, as I said, these incidents affect players mentally and physically. We just got the Schoolboy Football season started and I know didn't tell any team comes into the competition looking ahead, ensuring that their team is ready to play good football and most importantly, walk away with the prize. Do you think this situation will put a setback now on your team's performance and progress? Well, I doubt that, you know, because first thing that we did this morning is getting some help as in counseling of the boys and the staff. So that was the first step that we took today. Yeah. And they're up and ready to play. But, you know, they are not ready. But some guys, some of the guys told us that they are ready, but I know mentally they are not because this was a very traumatizing situation. Yeah. Everton, I mean, first of all, really happy to hear that the young men are okay and all will be released from hospital. Let me just get some clarity, though. So there were three players from the Dintill technical team. There was also a staff member of the Dintill technical team and a fifth person who was a match official. Were there any players from Charlemagne who got hurt in the incident or was it just the Dintill technical members and the match official? Well, based on my observation yesterday at the match, I saw probably about three Charlemagne players who persons were assisting because they were down on the ground and holding their faces and all that. But I spent the night at the hospital and there was no Charlemagne officials or players who came by. So I'm not sure. Can you give us an idea of exactly what happened where you were and what you noticed about the overall incident? Well, I was sitting on the bench and just in front of me, two of my players, those are the two that were admitting yesterday. Right in front of me, those two persons fell. So the first instinct was to rush to those players to assist them off the field, get them to a vehicle for transportation quickly to the hospital. Everton, were there signs? Were there warning signs? Were the referees being pushed to stop the game before this incident happened? No, there were no signs. No, that is a strange thing. There were no signs of enlightening. Right? There was no signs prior to the match or after this lightning. It's just one lightning strike and that's it. Because I was there probably after the incident and there was no lightning after that. It was just a one lightning strike and that's it. Much colder. Yeah, Everton, you spoke of the mental conditioning of the players to get them back, but physically are the players who were hospitalized and the one who was still in hospital with the extent of their injuries ruled them out of this weekend's game or is it that they would be fully recovered and can play quickly? Physically because you've said mentally there's work to be done as far as getting their minds back. Well, we have to get further medical assessment to do a student before a chemical decision like that. That's still them playing this weekend. So when they were released from hospital, the doctors didn't specifically say that they would be or would not be ready to play in days. No, they didn't get any information of that. Yeah, I quite understand the question that Ricardo asked about the warning signs because this has happened before. Officials, match officials now have to be very cognizant of the weather conditions and the possibility of lightning. We know that in golf, well, they use irons to play golf, so that would attract lightning. So when lightning is on during golf games, the game will be suspended, but footballers may be a little less likely to be affected by lightning. But because this has happened before, I guess match officials now would have to take a keen interest in the signs. As you said, there were no signs. It was just one lightning strike out of the blue that caused the problem yesterday. Definitely. No, no, no warning, nothing like that. Just one lightning strike and that that was it. All right, Everton. Well, we want to thank you so much. We know you're very busy. You have to head to the hospital to ensure that the rest of the players are okay. But we want to thank you so much for stopping by and we will be in contact, of course, to get an update on what's happening. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. All right. Yeah. Yeah. And I just want to make the point as well that earlier today in both the SSFL and the schoolboy football in Jamaica matches were suspended because of lightning. We had a live game on Sports Max Plus from the SSFL and on Sports Max 2 from the Manning Cup here, the Kingston College camper down game was suspended, eventually finished with Kingston College winning that game by two goals to nil and similarly as well in the SSFL. So what is good from the incident yesterday is that clearly officials are more aware. I don't know if I want to say more aware, but they are aware of the dangers of lightning strikes and that the correct decisions would have been made and made quickly or were made and made quickly in the matches in both Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica today. And I want to make sure that we do a follow up maybe on Friday to find out about the dental players and the ones affected by the lightning. If in fact the doctors would give them the go ahead to play on Saturday as well, because at the moment Everton was a little unsure as to their physical ability to return to football quickly. But I think, you know, having brought that up now, I think our viewers would want to know if on Saturday when they have their next game if these players would or would not be able to play. Yeah, and I hope those in authority can of course equip themselves with the necessary information because this is something we can't take lightly. Let's take a quick break. Come right back.