BRIGHAM CITY, Utah -- A troop of Boy Scouts who survived a lightning strike that killed two of their members were safely home Sunday after being ferried out of the high wilderness campsite where the mishap occurred.
The bodies of the two Scouts who died, Clint Barker and Richard Brough, were flown out by helicopter Saturday from the rugged area of northestern Utah.
The boys died and another was injured Friday when a bolt of lightning struck a tree they had chosen for shelter in a thunderstorm.
Barker, 14, and Brough, 16, were among 11 scouts and three adult leaders from a Mormon-sponsored troop who backpacked 5 miles Thurday to Kavell Madows in Island Lake Thursday for a fishing trip.
The violent storm hit the area around midday Friday. Most of the boys sought shelter in their tents, but four huddled about 50 yards away under a big pine tree.
One youth managed to bolt from the tree just before the bolt struck, but the other three were shocked by thousands of volts of electricity as they leaned against the tree base.
Barker and Brough died instantly. A third youth, Brandon Hodson, 15, was knocked unconscious.
'The thunder was real loud and close,' one scout said. 'It sounded like a pop and then a crack.'
Another scout on the trip, Brady Frederick, 15, said he was standing under a tree about 20 feet away.
'I saw a bright flash of light, then saw the two of them lying there on the ground, face down,' Federick said.
Hodson was in serious condition Sunday at Evanston Regional Hospital in Evanston, Wyo.
Rescuers were able to remove Hodson from the mountain by helicopter Saturday, when five scouts, two of their leaders, and a nurse were also ferried down from the campsite. The other scouts had been flown out or walked down Friday.
The boys were from Brigham City, a close-knit Mormon community in extreme northern Utah. Barker had lived in the small town for seven months, while Brough and his family had moved there just a month ago.
'A loss like this is tough in this neighborhood, it overwhelms people,' said Craig Simper, a leader in the 20th Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 'The wards are doing what they can, but it's the families that need a lot of support now.'
Since 1934, lightning has killed 35 people in Utah and injured 74 others. Of those, 10 deaths took place in July and 11 in August, which is the worst month for lightning strikes, said National Weather Service meteorologist William Alder.
