Four Scout Leaders Killed in Accident at Jamboree

BOWLING GREEN, Va. – Four adult Boy Scout leaders from Alaska were killed Monday afternoon in an electrical accident during the opening of the organization's 2005 Jamboree, the Boy Scouts of America (search) said.

The accident came a day after Boy Scouts volunteer Albert Puff (search), 57, of Stella, N.C., was taken to a local hospital where he died of an apparent heart attack, said Jamboree spokeswoman Renee Fairrer.

Monday's accident occurred between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. while the leaders were setting up camp, said Jamboree spokesman Gregg Shields (search).

Shields said no youth Scouts were seriously injured. He did not say how many sustained minor injuries.

"We're looking into it right now," Shields said. "We have an investigation under way."

One other leader and a contract worker also were injured but remain in stable condition at a local hospital, Shields said.

Those killed and injured Monday were from Anchorage, Alaska, said Bill Haines, Scout executive and chief executive officer of the Western Alaska Council, which oversees about 10,600 Boy Scouts and is the largest of three councils in Alaska.

Haines said the longtime Scouts were leaders with Troop 711, which together with Troop 712 brought 80 Scouts, ages 13 to 15, and eight leaders to the Jamboree.

All the kids with the Alaska group are fine, Haines said. The Scouts were relocated to another area, and chaplains and grief counselors were made available.

"The Jamboree will go on," Fairrer said.

The tragedy is the second to befall the Western Alaska Council this year.

On March 13, an Anchorage man helping to chaperone a winter camping trip died when a tree blew down and fell on him. Matthew Johnson, 37, was killed as he slept in his tent on the Devil's Pass Trail in Chugach National Forest near Cooper Landing. He was part of an outing that included four Scouts and three adults.

More than 40,000 Boy Scouts, leaders and volunteers from around the world are attending the 2005 National Scout Jamboree, being held the Army's Fort A.P. Hill.

The Jamboree opened Monday on the 76,000-acre Army training base about an hour south of the nation's capital. It runs through Aug. 3 with President Bush scheduled to speak Wednesday evening.

Organizers said this year's event is the largest single-site Jamboree since 1964. Scouts ages 12 to 18 are to spend 10 days camping in tents and doing activities that include archery, fishing and geocaching, a GPS-based scavenger hunt. Scouts are attending from all over the United States and 20 other countries.

"I want to reassure the parents of the young men attending the Jamboree that a remarkable amount of effort and resources have been brought to bear by the Boy Scouts and their hosts, the Department of Defense, in the planning and safety considerations involved in creating, in effect, a city of 43,000 inhabitants for a 10-day period," Gov. Mark R. Warner said in a statement Monday night.

In 1997, a 16-year-old Boy Scout was killed at a Jamboree when an Army Humvee he was not supposed to be driving flipped over. Three passengers were hurt.

Robert Combes, of Finleyville, Pa., was driving on an uneven gravel road when he lost control, drove into a ditch and turned over once.

The Boy Scouts have held the event since 1937 with the next gathering set for 2010, the Scouts' 100th anniversary.