A summer camp in the United States that became the site of a deadly disaster is now facing financial collapse. According to the report, Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian sleepaway camp in Texas, is filing for bankruptcy amid a flurry of lawsuits, nearly a year after a catastrophic flood killed 28 people at the site.
The scale of the camp's financial trouble was set out in legal filings. According to the report, in court documents Camp Mystic says it has total debt exceeding 10 million dollars. The move is a Chapter 11 filing, the kind of bankruptcy that allows an organisation to seek protection from creditors while its situation is worked through.
The timing of the filing stands in contrast to recent plans for the camp's future. According to the report, the Chapter 11 filing comes two months after operators had said they planned to welcome more than 800 girls this summer. That plan, the report says, has now also been scrapped, leaving the camp's operations in question.
The bankruptcy is rooted in the tragedy that struck the camp the previous year. According to the report, it was nearly a year ago that a catastrophic flood killed 28 people at the camp, an event that has since been followed by lawsuits now weighing on the organisation as it turns to the bankruptcy process.
Among the victims of the disaster were people directly responsible for the campers. According to the report, two teenage counsellors and the director of the camp were among those killed last 4th of July weekend, when the flood overwhelmed the site during the holiday period.
The circumstances of the flooding underline how quickly the situation turned deadly. According to the report, rising waters from the Guadalupe River inundated the cabins at the camp, and the combination of the loss of life and the legal claims that followed has now brought the organisation to seek bankruptcy protection.