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Tree Branch Death Of Naperville Student Ruled Accident

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (STMW) - An autopsy confirmed the 16-year-old boy hit by a tree limb while camping at a Will County forest preserve died Sunday of injuries from a falling tree branch.

Kyle Zuleg, 16, of Naperville, was pronounced dead at 10:46 a.m. Sunday at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

An autopsy performed Wednesday confirmed the Zuleg died of multiple injuries from a falling tree branch, the medical examiner's office said. His death was ruled an accident.

The junior at Neuqua Valley High School and a 13-year-old boy were playing a game of night flashlight tag about 8 p.m. Saturday in Messenger Woods in Homer Township when "everyone heard a large limb cracking," Marcy DeMauro, executive director of the Forest Preserve of Will County, told The Naperville Sun Monday night. "But it was at night so you couldn't see it."

In a memo to Will County Forest Preserve commissioners, DeMauro said the large tree limb fell from about 70 feet off the ground and pinned the two boys. The boys were transported to Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, she said.

Zuleg was revived there, she said, then airlifted to Loyola where he died after surgery. She said the 13-year-old was expected to recover.

Neuqua Valley Principal Bob McBride said school officials found out about the accident Sunday. Students and staff at Neuqua Valley were notified of Zuleg's situation Monday, and crisis counselors prepared to speak with them.

"Right now I think most of us are thinking about his family and his parents, and the fact they are facing a very terrible loss for their family," McBride said.

Zuleg has a younger sister who is a freshman at Neuqua. He played JV volleyball and was a member of the Wildcat Weekly news program team.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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