Digging in Sand on a Florida Beach Ends With Girl Dead

A young girl was buried in sand and died Tuesday when a deep hole she was digging with a little boy collapsed on them both at a south Florida beach, the AP reports. Emergency crews responding around 3pm to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea found the boy, who is about 8 years old, buried up his chest in sand, said Sandra King, a spokesperson for Pompano Beach Fire Rescue. The girl, about 7 years old, was completely buried underneath the boy, King told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. (Other media outlets report the girl was 5 and the boy is 7.) The hole was 5 or 6 feet deep when the collapse happened, King said. It wasn't immediately known whether an adult was helping the children dig the hole.

Rescuers used support boards to keep more sand from collapsing in as they used shovels to dig the children out, King said. She didn't know how long they were buried. The girl was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where she was pronounced dead, King said. The boy was hospitalized in stable condition. Witnesses tell NBC 6, which has cellphone video of beachgoers attempting to dig the children out of the sand, that the kids were digging and playing before the ground suddenly gave way. A 2007 study on similar incidents found that submersion in sand is an underrecognized hazard, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

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