A young child was killed after the hole she was digging on a Florida beach collapsed and trapped her beneath the sand, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
According to Pompano Beach Fire and Rescue, the girl, about 7 years old, was digging a hole with another child, a boy around 8, when the sand surrounding the hole collapsed in on them.
Fire and Rescue received a report around 3:00 p.m. on February 20 that two children had gotten trapped in the hole.
Sandra King, a spokeswoman for Fire and Rescue said the boy was buried up to his chest while the girl was trapped beneath him in the 5- to 6-foot hole they had dug on the beach.
King said it wasn’t clear from reports if either child’s parents or guardians were with them when the incident occurred or how long they were trapped before Fire and Rescue were notified of the incident and arrived on the scene.
Video footage taken by one of the witnesses and shared with WTVJ in Miami showed people pulling the boy free before rescue workers using shovels and boards for support dug the girl free of the sand.
The boy’s parents joined him as he was transported to a nearby hospital to be checked out. The hospital later reported that the boy was in stable condition.
The young girl was not breathing and had no pulse when she was rescued from the sand. Rescue workers attempted to revive her as she was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. However, the girl was later pronounced dead.
Pompano Beach Fire and Rescue could not confirm if the children were local to the area or were visitors.
It is not uncommon for sand holes to collapse, especially the deeper they are.
Research published in 2007 by the New England Journal of Medicine found that in the previous ten years, there were at least 52 incidents of people becoming trapped while digging holes in the sand on the beach. Some of the incidents resulted in death.
