Lifeguards at a San Diego beach raced against surging waves to free a 16-year-old girl who was buried up to her neck after a deep hole in the sand collapsed, officials and witnesses said Tuesday.
Beachgoers at Mission Beach gathered around emergency workers who were frantically digging to free the trapped teenage boy from a 6- to 8-foot hole about 4:50 p.m.
“She was buried up to her neck and all you could see was her head and her arms,” said San Diego Lifeguard Lt. Jacob Magness. FOX5 San Diego.
Good Samaritan Richard Mustang told the outlet that the boy was “way down” in the hole and jumped in to help.
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A 6- to 8-foot-high hole in the sand collapsed on San Diego’s Mission Beach on Tuesday, burying a 16-year-old girl up to her neck in sand, authorities said. (FOX5 San Diego KSWB)
“I already had the shovel in my hand and I knew they were like, ‘Stay out of the way, let the guy keep digging,’ so I was digging like crazy,” Mustang told FOX 5.
The girl, whose name has not been released, was digging in the sand with friends when she fell into the hole, the San Diego Fire Department said. KFMB Television.
A good Samaritan helped emergency workers pull the boy from the collapsed hole in the sand. (FOX5 San Diego KSWB)
According to reports, the girl’s friends initially tried to rescue her but were unsuccessful and called for lifeguards.
Magness said. KNSD TV Rescue teams tried to free the girl but she was buried deep under the sand, “so that’s when we had to start digging operations,” he added.
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It took rescuers about 20 minutes to completely dig the girl out of the sand hole and rescue her, the media reported.
Large crowds gathered Tuesday as emergency workers rushed to rescue a trapped teenager in San Diego’s Mission Beach. (FOX5 San Diego KSWB)
Video from the scene showed rescuers pulling the girl out of the hole, where she was examined by paramedics before being returned to her parents, according to FOX 5.
Rescuers were seen freeing the girl after spending about 20 minutes digging her out of the hole. (FOX5 San Diego KSWB)
Experts say deep sand holes are dangerous because if they collapse the sand can harden, trapping anyone caught in the collapse with an incredible weight and depriving them of oxygen.
In February, a 7-year-old Indiana girl who was vacationing with her family was killed when a sand hole collapsed on a South Florida beach.
Sloane Mattingly was digging a 5-6 foot deep hole with her 9-year-old brother in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, when the hole in the sand suddenly collapsed, burying her brother alive and up to his neck in sand.
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Despite the quick response of bystanders and emergency personnel, Sloane was pronounced dead at the hospital. Her brother survived.
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
