At least one person was killed and as many as 12 others were injured on Independence Day when lightning struck in South Carolina at a popular river gathering spot, according to reports.

Firefighters said the lightning struck a tree Thursday afternoon near Lawshe Plantation in Georgetown County, injuring the people near it, FOX 57 of Columbia, S.C., reported.

The group of people hit were all family and friends between ages 9 and 46, one witness said.

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"We were in the water. A storm came fast,” Billie Camlin, a Georgetown resident, told FOX 57. “Then the lightning hit and it got the tree and then it hit every one of us."

When asked what it felt like, Camlin said: "Like a shock through your body. Indescribable."

"We were in the water. A storm came fast. Then the lightning hit and it got the tree and then it hit every one of us. ... Like a shock through your body. Indescribable."
— Billie Camlin, Georgetown, S.C., resident

Lightning from a summer storm is seen in Christmas, Fla., July 19, 2015. ((Getty Images))

The hunting site and event venue sits along the Black River near the coast.

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Sam Hodge, the county emergency manager, said emergency crews transported three people to a hospital, and as many as a dozen people were injured.

Firefighters told the station three people were taken to a Georgetown hospital for treatment and one person was transported in critical condition but was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. The other two transports reportedly suffered minor injuries.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.