Photo: Contributed

The 13-year-old boy killed on a camping expedition by a falling tree shouted to warn his friends just before he was struck, his father said Sunday.

Graham Caverhill said police have told him his son, Tai, managed to yell out a warning to his friends just before the tree came down on him.

“I console myself that it’s tragic, but there is nobody to blame because the boys were just being boys out doing what boys should be doing,” said Caverhill.

“They were in the woods, exploring and having a great time. They weren’t sitting at home on their phones,” he said. “Tai was with his friends and he yelled out to help them,” he said.

Tai Caverhill, a Grade 8 student at Lansdowne Middle School, died on Thursday during a three-day school outing to Camp Barnard near Sooke.

Gusting winds are suspected of knocking over a tree, pinning him. When emergency workers arrived, they found him not breathing. Despite resuscitation attempts, Tai was pronounced dead at the scene.