Third Boy Scout dies from boating accident in Texas

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- An 11-year-old Boy Scout died Monday from injuries after a boating accident in East Texas that took the lives of two other Boy Scouts two days before, authorities confirmed.

Eleven-year-old Thomas Larry had been hospitalized in Shreveport, La. since he was discovered Saturday. The other two victims Will Brannon, 17, and Heath Faucheux, 16, were found dead at the time of the accident. All three boys were members of a Boy Scout troop out of Hallsville, Texas.

The accident occurred Saturday afternoon in Lake O' the Pines, Texas, located about 150 miles east of Dallas. The Boy Scouts were riding a sailboat when the sail collided with a transmission powerline overhead. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said the boys "may have been electrocuted as a result."

TPWD said the accident is being investigated.

All three boys were wearing life preservers at the time of the accident. Wardens discovered Brannon still on board the vessel and Faucheux in the water a short distance away.

"It was a tragic scene," Texas Game Warden Quint Balkcom told KLTV.

Larry was found unresponsive by bystanders further away and was given CPR before being taken to the hospital where he eventually succumbed to his injuries.

According to the Longview News-Journal, Hallsville Band Director Sherri Morgan said the families of the victims and their communities are "heart-broken" and "devastated" but they will be remembered.

"You're talking about great young men, men of integrity," Morgan said. "All is not lost, they leave a legacy. So, they are going to live on forever."