[h1]Lightning kills 5 Mexican children in prayer[/h1][h2]Youths between 9 and 16 die praying at metal cross in central Mexico[/h2]MEXICO CITY - Five Mexican children were killed when a large metal cross they were praying at was struck by lightning in central Mexico, local media reported Monday.[p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Five children between 9 and 16 years old died and several others suffered burns when lightning struck a white-painted metal cross set on a hill in the town of Santa Maria del Rio early on Sunday, according to two newspaper reports.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]"The lightning went straight into them and killed them instantly," local Red Cross chief Eduardo Suarez told the daily El Norte.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"]Officials in the state of San Luis Potosi were not immediately available to confirm the report, also in the newspaper El Universal.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]A photo showed charring on the cross's turquoise-painted cement base, although the cross was still standing.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Several families had been participating in a midnight ceremony as part of a local religious festival that centers around the cross.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Santa Maria del Rio calls itself the "cradle of the shawl" for the traditional silk shawls that artisans have woven there since pre-Hispanic times.[/p][a href="vny!://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12467604/?GT1=7938"]vny!://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12467604/?GT1=7938[/a]
