LITTLE ROCK, Ark., May 3 (UPI) -- A group of Boy Scouts and their leaders from Lafayette, La., missing after a camping trip in a national forest in Arkansas, have been found, officials said.
The troop had not been heard from since last Wednesday in a flood-prone area of the Ouachita Forest, KUAR-TV, Little Rock, Ark., reported.
The Montgomery County sheriff's office said the eight campers -- six scouts and two leaders -- had been stranded Sunday by high water near the Albert Pike camping area along the Little Missouri River, the Arkansas Times newspaper in Arkansas reported.
They were spotted before sunrise Tuesday and rescued by helicopter, Jerry Elizandro, the head of Montgomery County Emergency Management, said.
The group had moved to safety on high ground after apparently realizing late Sunday that rising waters had blocked exit routes, the sheriff's office said.
"The scout master with them is very experienced and serves as a backpacking trainer," scout executive Art Hawkins of the Evangeline Area Council of Lafayette told CNN. "The average age of the youth is 14 and they are the more experienced hikers of his organization."
The group was near, but not in, the Albert Pike recreation area, which closed following the deaths of 20 people during a flash flood last year, the sheriff's office said.
