1 Naperville teen killed, 1 injured by falling tree limb
A Naperville teen was killed and another critically injured after a massive tree limb fell, landing on the two during a family camping trip at a Will County Forest preserve.
Kyle Zuleg, 16, was killed and 13-year-old Tom Harless was severely injured, according to ABC 7.
The limb, which was about 30 feet long, weighed almost one ton, according to Capt. Edward McCormack of the Homer Glen Fire Protection District.
The boys had been playing a game of flashlight tag when the branch fell, McCormack said.
“This was a tragic accident. A wrong place, wrong time-type thing,” he said. “Nothing (the teens) did (caused the branch to fall). It was not a windy night … it just happened.”
The teens initially were taken to Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet. Kyle later was transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died late Monday. Tom was transferred to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, McCormack said.
Homer Glen firefighters were called about 7:30 p.m. Saturday that two boys were trapped under a fallen tree limb at the Messenger Woods Forest Preserve near Lockport.
Because Messenger Woods is an older forest preserve, it is not unusual for branches to fall from old or dead trees, McCormack said.
The branch was about 40 feet overhead, and the teens probably had no clue it was about to fall.
“The kids didn't have any time to react,” McCormack said.