The ground shook as Mr Baldacchino felt the "intense power" of the strike course through him. It was unlike anything he'd witnessed before.

The "freak accident" that sent shock waves through the Illawarra community has the young victim fighting for his life at the Westmead Hospital in Sydney.

As Mr Baldacchino recounts the harrowing incident he hopes for the boy's speedy recovery.

"I was there with my friends and family and suddenly from the corner of my eye I saw a big flash followed by a really loud bang. Everyone started screaming," he said.

"I automatically thought 'oh that's not good' and heard someone yell 'oh no!' It was a lady pulling her son from the water."

Mr Baldacchino believes he was the first person to call 000 after the incident occured.

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"I straightaway grabbed my phone and called 000. I thought I was going to vomit seeing what I was seeing while I tried to describe the situation to the lady on the line," he said.

The boy who was lying unconscious with visible burns, was being given CPR to try and revive his heart which had gone into a cardiac arrest.

"I was just trying to comfort the parents, I was cuddling the father and the younger son. I asked they if they wanted me to call someone but they said they had just moved from the UK and didn't have anyone here," he said.

Mr Baldacchino said the lifeguards, police, ambulance and other emergency services were on the scene almost immediately who worked on his resuscitation and emergency health care.

"The strangest bit is that the weather wasn't so bad at the time. Yes it was starting to change but I'm a diver and a fisherman and it did not feel unsafe to me," he said.

"It was like a bolt from the blue."

Another Warilla resident Scott M who was at his parents' home overlooking the site of incident said he watched the horror show unfold from the balcony.

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"As we were watching the storm, a bolt of lightning struck approximately 100 metres from my parents' house," he said.

"I said to my father 'look at the smoke from where it hit' and seconds later we saw a woman carrying the child from knee-deep water, screaming to the lifeguards for help."

Mr Scott said he could not begin to fathom the trauma it must have caused the family.

Shellharbour City mayor Chris Homer said the "one in a million lightning strike" was "as bad as it can get".

"Shellharbour City professional Lifeguards were first on the scene and did a great job," Mr Homer said. "Community members got involved and there were other professional services - it was a bit of a united effort to save the boy."

Mr Homer said the community's thoughts and prayers were with the family going through a difficult time.

"The latest information I've got is that the boy has gone from being critical to stable to stable," he said.

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