4 Killed After Tornado Strikes Iowa Boy Scout Camp

The tornado at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch killed Josh Fennen, 13; Sam Thomsen, 13, and Ben Petrzilka, 14, all of Omaha, Nebraska; and Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, who was a camp staff member, said Gene Meyer, Iowa public safety commissioner.

Forty-eight Scouts and staff members were injured.

Possible tornadoes also struck northeastern Kansas, killing at least two people, injuring many others and damaging buildings at Kansas State University.

 After all 93 Scouts and staff members were accounted for, stories of heroism began to emerge.

"These young men ... literally saved lives during this time period when emergency management could not get to them," Culver said. They "were the real heroes. ...

"They immediately started helping each other in this time of need [and] set up their own mini-triage unit."

Rob Logsdon, a 15-year-old staff member at the camp, said although he was injured, he rescued some of his fellow Boy Scouts trapped underneath a collapsed chimney at one of the camp's four bunkhouses.
 Logsdon said one of his friends was among the four killed.

"I went back to Little Sioux after I got out of the hospital, and his dad had just found out he died," he said. "He was my staff partner and he was a good kid, and it's a big loss. He was a great kid."

Survivors were receiving trauma and grief counseling, officials said.

"You see that bunkhouse, and in some ways it's amazing we didn't lose more lives than we did," Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said.

"But those young Scout leaders, the adults who were there, they responded in true Boy Scout fashion, and I think we need to recognize them for what they did."

The boys at the ranch were advanced Scouts between 13 and 18 years old and were there for a week of training, said Lloyd Roitstein, president of the Mid-America Council of Boy Scouts of America.

Four people were killed and at least another 20 were reported injured Wednesday when a tornado struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, a state safety official said.

Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Gene Meyer said the four were killed by a storm that slammed into the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near the Nebraska state line.

Meyer said about 120 people, including 93 children, were believed to be at the camp at the time of the storm.

Lloyd Roitstein, president of the Boy Scouts of Mid-America Council, said the scouts at the ranch were between 13 and 18 years old and were there for a week of training. He said all of them were staying in tents and that the site was destroyed.

"All of the buildings are gone; most of the tents are gone; most of the trees are destroyed," Roitstein said. "You've got 1,800 acres of property that are destroyed right now."

The National Weather Service received a 7:35 p.m. report of a touchdown at the site.

Officials at Burgess Memorial Hospital, about 20 miles away from the ranch, said they had treated several patients injured by the storm Wednesday night and that injuries ranged from minor to serious.

As many as 40 people may be injured atboy scout camp near Little Sioux, in western Iowa after a storm ortornado touched down.

Emergency officials who could be heard on a police scannerreported the injuries at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch which islocated in Iowa's Loess Hills.

The officials said many of the injuries were head injuries.

A dispatch operator with the Harrison County Sheriff's Officewould not confirm reports of injuries but said first responderswere at the camp site and more were en route.