Young girl dies after tragic accident while digging hole in sand on beach

A young girl was buried in sand and died when a deep hole she was digging with a little boy collapsed

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, authorities said.

Emergency crews responding around 3 p.m. 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.

The hole was 5 or 6 feet (1.8 meters) deep when the collapse happened, she said.

A bucket rests next to caution tape on a beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (Sun Sentinel 2024)

Rescuers used support boards to keep more sand from collapsing in as they used shovels to dig the children out. It is not known how long they were buried.

King told the Florida Sun Sentinel that when the girl was dug up she didn’t have a pulse.

She said: ‘We were conducting life-saving techniques to try to bring her pulse back, and it never did recover and she was pronounced dead at the hospital.’

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.

It wasn't immediately known whether an adult was helping the children dig the hole.