Star of Discovery's 'Storm Chasers' show among dead in OK

[Hum]

A star of the Discovery Channel show ?Storm Chasers,? his son and a colleague have been identified as three of the 13 people killed after an outbreak of tornadoes struck the Oklahoma City area on Friday.

Tim Samaras, 55, died with his son Paul, 24, and friend Carl Young, 45, in Canadian County chasing down a tornado that wreaked havoc along Interstate 40, Fox 25 reports.

?We are deeply saddened by the loss of Tim Samaras his son Paul and their colleague Carl Young,? the Discovery Channel said in a statement to FOX411. ?Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.?

The channel added that it would be dedicating Sunday night's show on the tornadoes in their memory.

Tim Samaras is a 20-year veteran of storm chasing and founded the project TWISTEX (Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes Experiment), which gathers weather information by placing devices in the way of tornadoes.

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[+Raze Subscriber²]

Very sad for them and all the other victims. Rest in peace.

[Kriz]

Sad indeed, i watched that show when it was on. RIP!

[Rappy Veteran]

RIP :(

[Growled Member]

Just goes to reinforce that storm chasing is a dangerous job. Thank god there are people willing to put their lives on the line and do it. RIP.

[episode]

He didn't have one of those tornado-proof vehicles right? Those are other guys?

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

He did it to learn more about tornadoes but mainly, to help save lives through better understanding. May they rest in peace.

[+Warwagon MVC]

[Razorwing]

I've never seen the show, but RIP.

[Yorak]

Did nobody see this as an outcome when you go towards a tornado rather than away from it? I am not so sure how useful the information is that is gathered in these storms. Sure, you can measure the barometric pressure within it among other things but this just seems like more of a cheap thrills type of "occupation". Of course, I feel awful that they lost their lives. It just seems like a pointless way to go. We may have a much better grasp of when tornados are going to strike and their patterns, but when it comes down to it, mother nature does what she wants.

[Hum]

RIP

Maybe now we can send in drones to chase tornadoes, instead of people.

[Hurmoth]

Did nobody see this as an outcome when you go towards a tornado rather than away from it? I am not so sure how useful the information is that is gathered in these storms. Sure, you can measure the barometric pressure within it among other things but this just seems like more of a cheap thrills type of "occupation". Of course, I feel awful that they lost their lives. It just seems like a pointless way to go. We may have a much better grasp of when tornados are going to strike and their patterns, but when it comes down to it, mother nature does what she wants.

Check out the VORTEX projects to see how these brave men and women have contributed to the science behind tornadoes.

If we have the attitude like what you have, then why should we ever study anything that might be remotely dangerous? Should we continue space exploration? Plenty of astronauts have been killed.

I grew up wanting to be a storm chaser, I have always had a fascination of meteorology and Tim Samaras was one of the brilliant chasers I always admired and was inspired by.