3rd Boy Scout dies after sailboat strikes power line on lake

AVINGER, Texas – A third Boy Scout has died from injuries suffered when a sailboat struck an overhanging power line on a lake east of Dallas, an official with Texas Parks & Wildlife said.

The 11-year-old Scout died Monday at a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, Texas Parks & Wildlife spokesman Steve Lightfoot said.

The boy was sailing in a catamaran Saturday with two older boys, one 17 and the other 16, when it struck the power line at Lake O’The Pines near Avinger, 150 miles (241 kilometres) from Dallas.

Daniel Anderson, chief operating officer for the East Texas Boy Scouts of America, said a Scout leader reached the boat within minutes but the two older boys were already dead. The oldest teen was found in the boat while the other two fell into the water.

Authorities have not released the names of the victims.

Anderson said the trio was just off shore when the catamaran struck the line operated by Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative. He said other Scouts were at a camp site on private land and it immediately became apparent to them that the three were in distress. Another boat nearby gathered the 11-year-old and took him to shore to an awaiting ambulance.

“There’s literally hundreds of campouts like this every year in East Texas and nothing like this ever happens,” Anderson said.

It wasn’t clear Monday why the power line was overhanging the water, in proximity to watercraft.

Lightfoot said no other details of the accident would be released Monday while a reconstruction of the events is conducted by investigators.

Rob Walker, general manager of Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative, said in a statement that the company is working to determine what happened.

“We are co-operating in the investigation and will assist in the process as it goes forward,” he said.