FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- A teenage Boy Scout died while camping with his troop in New Mexico, according to police.
Brian Robinson and his sons Wyatt and Will just got back from a 10-day, 70-mile camping trip near Cimarron, New Mexico at Philmont Scout Ranch.
"I'm really surprised that there weren't any more accidents,” Brian Robinson, who was an adviser on the trip, said.
The scouts, who are with the Fort Smith Troop 3 Boy Scouts, describe the camping trip as rugged.
“It’s not just a walking-through-the-woods vacation,” Robinson said.
But things got more difficult than anticipated early Saturday (June 27) morning, when New Mexico State Police said an overnight flash flood caused a surge of water to sweep through a canyon on the ranch.
"I got about 20 minutes of sleep that night -- we were all just constantly praying for it to go away,” Will said.
“[It was] probably the most violent storm I’ve ever been through, especially in a tent,” Brian said.
When they got out of their tents in the morning to sleet and hail blanketing the ground, the scouts said they knew something was wrong.
“We were wondering -- someone had to have died, because it was that bad,” Will said. “And then hearing a couple days later that someone actually did die… they found his body wrapped around a tree. That was really scary.”
Police said 13-year-old Boy Scout Alden Brock from California was with other scouts and adults when the flash flood swept Brock and three other boys away. The other boys were rescued, but Brock didn't survive.
Robinson said he doesn't think the accident could have been prevented.
“They didn't realize the severity of their location, or they would have moved their tents,” Robinson said.
Will and Wyatt provided 5NEWS with video they shot on the trip.