11-Year-Old Girl Killed at Jewish Summer Camp When Tree Fell on Cabin After Storm
by Shiryn Ghermezian
An 11-year-old girl was killed in a freak accident at a Jewish summer camp in Indiana early Tuesday morning, when a tree fell on her cabin.
The incident took place at Camp Livingston, operated by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. The camp said in a released statement that during an intense storm on Tuesday morning, at around 3 am, lightning struck a healthy tree, which then fell on the cabin in which the girl, Jadyn Larky, her bunk-mates and three adult counselors were sleeping. Larky was pronounced dead by emergency services at the scene.
A team of grief counselors from Cincinnati was called to assist campers and staff, according to the news outlet WPO Cincinnati.
Several rounds of showers and storms passed through Switzerland County in Indiana on Tuesday morning, with winds gusting as high as 50 mph during Monday night.
WPO Cincinnati reported that there were 130 campers at Camp Livingston on Tuesday. The summer camp has been operating for more than 90 years, and its hosts Jewish youths, between the ages of 7 and 17, from around the US and Israel. There are two “villages” at the camp: one called Tel Aviv, where the boys’ cabins are located, and another called Jerusalem, for the girls.
The camp’s website said it holds drills for all emergency procedures during staff week, while fire and weather drills are held with campers at least once each session.