Crime & Safety

Olivette Camp Counselor OK After Lightning Strike Injures Three

A West County 9-year-old attending a Reform Jewish summer camp north of Indianapolis and was one of three campers injured by the strike.

This article was reported by Patch Editor Frank Johnson.
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Patch news partner Fox2 reports the 9-year-old Chesterfield girl injured by a lighting struck has been released from the hospital

The nine year old Chesterfield girl, and another nine year old from Kentucky were both injured, but released from the hospital Monday according to multiple sources.  A third child, from the Cincinnati area was in critical condition, but has since been upgraded to stable.

Fox2 spoke with Marc Seleman of Olivette who is the father of a counselor at the camp. He said his daughter, Carrie Seleman, 19, was close by when it happened, leading some other campers down to the pool.

(Read FOX2 story here.) 

“She was actually on her way with her campers down to the pool, which is only a couple of hundred yards from where this happened,” Marc Seleman told FOX2.  “She texted me, it was like 12:46, it was right when it happened.”

The incident happened at the Goldman Union camp, just north if Indianapolis.  Witnesses say the kids were playing in a field there, according to FOX2.

Original Story by Patch Editor Frank Jonson:

A 9-year-old girl from Chesterfield is reportedly among three children injured after lightning struck a summer camp north of Indianapolis Saturday. 

The AP reported that the bolt of lightning hit shortly before 1:40 p.m. while the campers were out in a field at Goldman Union Camp Institute, a Reform Jewish Summer camp. 

Camp counselors immediately began performing lifesaving efforts and medics transported the injured children to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. 

In addition to the Chesterfield girl, a 12-year-old from Ohio and another 9-year-old from Kentucky were injured. Indianapolis Police told the AP that one child was critically injured while the other two are in stable condition, but more information on their medical conditions was not available Sunday.

The camp serves several hundred children and posted on Facebook Sunday that it had resumed its normal schedule. 

"Please know, the safety of your children is our highest priority," said the message, signed by Rabbi Mark Covitz. 

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