A 15-year-old boy was killed in a heartbreaking accident after a leaning tree fell on him during a hike at a Tennessee summer camp.
Camden Robert Callihan was hiking with other campers and two counselors at YMCA Camp Widjiwagan in Antioch on Monday, July 27, when the group came across a fallen tree resting against another tree above the trail, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
The counselors warned the campers not to touch the tree as they passed underneath it.
However, investigators were told that as Camden and another camper walked beneath the tree, the friend grabbed it in what police described as a “pull-up motion.” The tree then came crashing down on Camden.
The counselors and other campers immediately rushed to help and lifted the tree off the teenager.
Camden was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.
Police have classified his death as accidental.
The YMCA of Middle Tennessee called the incident a “tragic loss” and asked the public to keep Camden’s family, the other campers, camp employees and the emergency personnel who responded in their thoughts and prayers.
Officials said a support team was sent to Camp Widjiwagan to assist the campers and staff members who witnessed or responded to the horrifying accident.
“Our focus at this time is caring for those impacted by the incident,” the organization said.
YMCA Camp Widjiwagan had not issued an additional public comment as of Tuesday, July 28.
The tragedy came just four days after another young camper was killed by a falling tree at a summer camp in Michigan.
An 11-year-old boy died on July 23 after a tree fell on him while he was walking along a trail at Scouting America’s Owasippe Scout Reservation.
“He was just walking down the trail when a tree fell,” Blue Lake Township Fire Chief Joe Knop said. “It was an act of God, and there’s no preventing some of those things. He was in the exact spot where the tree fell. That’s tragedy.”
