5 years ago
Lightning struck a group of Boy Scouts taking shelter from a summer storm, killing the troop leader and a 13-year-old scout, according to a ranger and the boy's parents.
At least one of the injured was kept alive only because the troop managed to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation for an hour after Thursday's strike in Sequoia National Park, park ranger Alex Picavet said Friday.
"That's amazing," she said. "It's very difficult. It's probably because of their Boy Scout training."
The deaths come just days after four men were electrocuted while putting up a tent at the National Scout Jamboree in Virginia.
Ryan Collins, 13, died Friday morning, according to his parents, Sue and Peter Collins. "We just lost our son," said Sue Collins after rushing to the hospital in Fresno where some of the scouts were airlifted.
The leader, Steve McCullough, 29, was pronounced dead Thursday night, the Tulare County coroner's office said.
The scout group from St. Helena, which included five adults and seven teenage scouts, was hit when a lightning bolt made a direct strike on one of the two tarps they had set up in a meadow. The man was killed instantly, Picavet said.
Two teenagers ran 25 minutes to a ranger station, and five helicopters flew in to evacuate the group.
Two of the injured remained hospitalized in Fresno, and others were being treated in Visalia after being evacuated from the park.
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Written by The Associated Press
