Huffington Post reports that former Storm Chasers star Tim Samaras along with his son Paul and colleague Carl Young died on Friday while chasing an Oklahoma storm.
The trio was chasing a tornado in Oklahoma on Friday. Discovery, the network that aired Storm Chasers for five seasons, dedicated Sunday’s special “Mile Wide Tornado: Oklahoma Disaster” to their memory. According to Huffington Post, the trio did not appear in the special, but a title card was inserted reading: “In memory of Tim Samaras, Carl Young and Paul Samaras who died Friday, May 31 doing what they love, chasing storms.”
In a statement, the Discovery network released a statement saying: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Tim Samaras his son Paul and their colleague Carl Young. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, National Geographic made 18 grants for Samaras to research. National Geographic released a statement regarding the tragedy, “We were shocked and deeply saddened by the news that longtime National Geographic grantee Tim Samaras was killed in a tornado in Oklahoma on Friday, along with Tim’s son Paul and their colleague Carl Young. Tim was a courageous and brilliant scientist who fearlessly pursued tornadoes and lightning in the field in an effort to better understand these phenomena.”
The statement continued: “Though we sometimes take it for granted, Tim’s death is a stark reminder of the risks encountered regularly by the men and women who work for us. This is an enormous loss for his family, his wide circle of friends and colleagues and National Geographic.”