Officials in Mississippi say a cloud to ground lightning strike is to blame for the death of a rider and her horse last week.

Clarke County Emergency Management Agency Director Eddie Ivy said emergency personnel responded to a 911 call about a lightning strike in Clarke County on July 11. Upon arrival, emergency personnel learned that 23-year-old Shannon Mosley had been riding her horse when lightning struck the pair, he said.

"The horse was dead on the scene and the rider was in cardiac arrest on the scene," Ivy said.

Mosley was taken to the hospital and then transferred to the Central Mississippi Medical Center burn center, where she later died, Ivy said