4 Boy Scout Leaders Killed at Jamboree (moved from ATSNN)

This is breaking news, so details are scarce, but 4 are known dead from an electrical accident and there are over 40K scouts there now.



Bush was prepared to speak there tomorrow, this is indeed a sad day for this wonderful organization..

[edit on 25-7-2005 by siriuslyone]

Apparently the scout leaders were pitching a tent and hit an overhead power wire with a tent pole...

Really a freak accident, what a shame....

Very sad news indeed....

I remember going camping at AP Hill all the time back when I was younger and when my father was still in the military....I don't think I ever went there when I was in the Boy Scouts, but I have a lot of fond memories of that place - Some awesome deer hunting out there....

Anyway - My condolences to the families of this tragedy....

There is nothing "freak"about hitting an overhead power line with anything metal. These sorts of electrical accident deaths are stupid and preventable, the problem is people don't treat electricity with the respect it deserves.
As a lighting tech I can tell you I am always aware of where the power lines are.

It ain't that hard to look up, especially if you're waving extended pieces of metal around.

If it was caused by a tent peg going through a buried cable, that is different. That constitutes negligence on the part of the person who buried the cable but didn't post signs.

My parents were scout leaders and I was a scout but the tragedy here is that the deaths were, as I said, stupid and preventable.

I recall reading something about this, and it wasn't as simple as a tent pole hitting an overheard wire or anything like that. The four adults were working with equipment or something like that.

Very unfortunate.

Might I ask why the original poster has not elaborated on this.
A little more detail please.

Nygdan
I think it was that simple actually. They were setting up a giant dining tent, and didn't follow procedure.

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, a day or so later hundreds of scouts fell ill from the heat, some were hospitalized.

And finally, today some folks were hit by lightning, I believe a troop leader was killed and at least one scout hospitalized.

What, did they get on the bad side of some voodoo lady or something? This is getting kinda ridiculous. My electrician's kid is there right now, he's going to pick him up early before the whole lot of 'em get struck by a meteorite or something.

[edit on 29-7-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Im an Eagle scout myself BTW:

Calif. Lightning Strike Kills Scout Leader

FRESNO, Calif. - Lightning struck a group of Boy Scouts taking shelter from a storm, killing the troop leader and leaving a 13-year-old boy brain-dead in the latest tragedy to befall the organization this week, authorities and the teen's grandfather said

Six others were injured when the lightning bolt made a direct strike on a tarp the Scouts had set up in a meadow in Sequoia National Park on Thursday
Scout Leader Killed

White House Cancels Bush Boy Scouts Visit
RSS Feeds From ABC 7 Wednesday July 27, 2005 6:48pm
Washington (AP) - Bad weather forced President Bush (website - news - bio) to cancel a trip Wednesday to the Boy Scouts' national jamboree, a gathering a tens of thousands of youngsters saddened by the deaths of four of their leaders in a tragic accident. The president was to have flown by helicopter to the National Boy Scout Jamboree being held at Fort A.P. Hill about an hour south of Washington. But the trip was scrapped at the last moment because of the threat of severe thunderstorms and strong winds. Four years ago, Bush canceled a similar trip because of bad weather.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan had said earlier that Bush's visit would be "a moment to keep in our thoughts and prayers the families of those four parents who tragically lost their life earlier this week."

The four Scout leaders died Monday while erecting a large dining tent at the gathering.
ABC

And Bush can't go to a soldier's funeral? I guess you can get better press from the Boy Scouts.