Two Eagle Scouts were fatally electrocuted over the weekend while teaching a younger Boy Scout how to sail. Authorities in East Texas say the mast of their catamaran apparently struck a power line on a lake Saturday afternoon, reports NBC News. The older boys, ages 16, and 18, were found in the water, and bystanders were able to bring the younger boy, 11, onto a boat and begin administering CPR until rescuers arrived. He remains in critical condition, reports the Longview News-Journal in Hallsville.
"You're talking about great young men, men of integrity," said one attendee at a vigil in Hallsville Sunday night. "We're heartbroken." When authorities arrived on the scene on Lake O' the Pines Marina near Avinger, the catamaran was on fire with its sails up, per the Texas Park and Wildlife Department. The boys were in an area of the lake known as Alley Creek. The eldest victim, Will Brannon, was the son of the troop's scoutmaster, and 16-year-old Heath Faucheux was the son of the assistant scoutmaster. The youngest boy, Thomas Larry, remains hospitalized in Shreveport. (More Boy Scouts of America stories.)