4 Boy Scout Leaders Are Killed in Electrical Accident at Jamboree

Four adult Boy Scout leaders from Alaska were killed Monday in an electrical accident during the opening day of the organization’s 2005 Jamboree.

The accident happened while the leaders were setting up camp, officials said.

One other leader from Alaska and a contract worker were hospitalized in stable condition after the incident. All the youths with the Alaska group were unhurt, said Bill Haines, chief executive of the Western Alaska Council.

Those killed were longtime leaders with Anchorage’s Troop 711, which along with another troop had brought 80 Scouts to the event, Haines said.

The Scouts were moved to another area, and chaplains and counselors were made available.

“The Jamboree will go on,” said spokeswoman Renee Fairrer.

The deaths came a day after a Boy Scout volunteer from North Carolina was taken to a hospital, where he died of an apparent heart attack, Fairrer said.

Tens of thousands of Boy Scouts, leaders and volunteers from around the world are attending the 2005 National Scout Jamboree.

The event opened Monday at Ft. A.P. Hill, a 76,000-acre Army training base about an hour south of the nation’s capital.