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Campers Hurt When Storm Slams The BWCA

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A dramatic rescue occurred Tuesday morning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness after a big storm knocked down trees onto a campsite.

Two campers from Louisiana were injured when high winds brought down two trees onto their tent during the overnight storm.

An emergency beacon was triggered and Mark Zup, owner of Zups Fishing Resort and Canoe Outfitters on Lac La Croix, left early in the morning to rescue the campers. He said the storm did significant damage to the campsite.

"It looked like a bomb hit it," Zup said. "There was probably 20 to 30 trees down, over equipment. It was a mess."

Campers Hurt When Storm Slams The BWCA

The two injured campers, identified by the St. Louis County Sheriff as 47-year old Kirk Sanchez and 13-year old Hayden Toups, were then boated out of the BWCA and eventually taken to a hospital in Virginia with non-life threatening injuries.

Zup says it was clear the two had suffered broken bones and bruises.

He says the 35-minute trip from his resort to the campsite was treacherous. Zup left before daybreak and he says there was fog, heavy rain and a lot of storm debris in the water.

Zup said it's the worst storm to hit the BWCA in at least a decade.

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