Moscow, Jun 13 (IANS/RIA Novosti): A stroll in the park ended in hospital for five Uzbek college students in Moscow after a lightning bolt hit the ground next to them, giving them an electric shock, police said.

The students -- all of them Uzbekistan natives -- were hospitalized, but their injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

Medics allowed them to return to their dormitory after performing electrocardiography.

Reports said the students were on a park footpath which appeared to be electrically conductive. But police said later they were walking along a regular street when the lightning struck.

A storm warning was issued for Moscow Tuesday. Rain hit the capital throughout the day, but ceased during a mass opposition rally in the afternoon and a pop concert on the Red Square in the evening.

Statistical estimates put the odds of being struck by lightning in a lifetime of 80 years at between 1/3,000 and 1/10,000.