TWO children struck by lightning outside a school in Co Antrim have left hospital.
However, their father remains in a critical condition more than a week after the freak accident.
George Allen (37) was collecting his son five year-old son Geordie and daughter Georgha, seven, from Killowen Primary School in Lisburn last Tuesday when lightning struck during a storm just before 2pm.
It happened as parents were arriving to pick up children from the school.
Mr Allen, who is married and is understood to be self-employed as a recycling processor in Ballymacash in Lisburn, was moved from Lagan Valley Hospital to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald in the hours following the freak accident.
The children had been being treated at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, where the boy had been described as critical, but have now been allowed home.
Education Minister Peter Weir praised the "swift response" of staff at the school, after it emerged that Mr Allen was resuscitated by a defibrillator used by the school's principal and vice-principal.
A fundraising initiative set up to support Mr Allen's wife Sharon and family has so far raised £4,000.
Jonny Corry, who set up the page, said: "George has lived in Ballymacash all his life and is well known in our local community. We would like to raise some funds for the family to help with bills and every day costs during this difficult time."
An update on the page earlier this week said: "Both kids are doing well but George still remains in a critical condition fighting for his life. It's a waiting game, taking every hour at a time but he's a strong fit man and if anyone can do it, he can do it. Keep praying for him."
