Two football fans hurt as thousands flee Euro 2008 storm

(CNN) -- Thousands of football fans fled for safety and millions of TV viewers were left disappointed Wednesday night as an electrical storm in Vienna disrupted coverage of the first of the Euro 2008 semifinals.

Rain and high winds lashed Vienna's Fan Zone -- an outside arena where supporters had gathered to watch the match -- as lightning forked the sky above, forcing police to evacuate 25,000 fans, CNN's Pedro Pinto reported.

Two people were badly hurt during the evacuation, including a woman who sustained back injuries, according to media reports.

Some fans tried sheltering against giant TV screens while others, caught up in the occasion, kicked floodwater over each other or played with footballs.

The match itself, being played in Basel, Switzerland -- the tournament's other co-host -- was unaffected by the severe weather.

However, the feed to TV stations worldwide was lost: only Swiss public TV and Al-Jazeera were unaffected, agency reports say.

The worldwide TV transmission was lost with less than 20 minutes of the second half to go and with Germany and Turkey level at 1-1.

The TV loss was badly felt as Turkey have forged a reputation throughout the tournament of snatching victory in the the dying minutes of closely fought matches, and throughout the game had been regarded as the better team.

But with no television pictures available, Germany took the lead again in the 79th minute through Miroslav Klose.

The TV feed was restored around five minutes later for viewers to see Turkey draw level again in the 86th minute -- before Germany scored in the 90th minute to take the match to 3-2.

But then, as the match moved into the few minutes of injury time, the feed was lost again.

In a statement UEFA, Europe's football body which organizes the tournament, said: "The television signal in the International Broadcast Center for the Germany-Turkey game has been interrupted several times in the second half due to technical reasons which are currently being investigated, in particular to evaluate the impact of the violent electrical storm over Vienna at that time."

Germany will find out Thursday who they will play in Sunday's final when Russia and Spain meet in the second semifinal in Vienna.

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