Three Kids Injured in Lightning Strike at Reform Summer Camp
Three children attending the Goldman Union Camp Institute were injured when lightning struck the field in which they were holding a camp activity.
One of the children reportedly is in critical but stable condition from the Saturday afternoon lightning strike on the Reform movement camp located in Zionville, Ind. near Indianapolis.
The three injured children have not been named, but have been identified as a 9-year-old girl from Missouri, a 9-year-old boy from Kentucky, and a 12-year-old boy from Ohio.
Following the accident, Rabbi Mark Covitz, director of the camp known as GUCI, sent out a message, also posted on Facebook, which read: “This Shabbat afternoon, lightning struck URJ Goldman Union Camp. Three campers were injured. Camp personnel and emergency professionals responded quickly. The children were taken to local hospitals and we have spoken with each child’s parents.
“We are resuming our normal camp schedule, which will include dinner and evening program. “Please know, the safety of your children is our highest priority.”
Emergency officials reportedly were called the camp at 1:40 p.m., where they found camp counselors performing “lifesaving efforts,” an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report said, according to the Indianapolis Star newspaper.
It was not raining, nor was there a storm in the area at the time of the lighting strike, Indianapolis Police spokesman Kendale Adams told reporters.
More than 100 children in grades 3 through 12 currently are in residence at the camp.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
