A sand hole collapse in Florida killed a child. Such deaths occur several times a year in the US
By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A family trip to a Florida beach turned tragic when a 5-year-old Indiana girl digging a deep hole with her brother died after the sand collapsed on them. Sloan Mattingly died Tuesday afternoon at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea’s beach when a 4-to-5-foot-deep hole collapsed on her and her 7-year-old brother, Maddox. The boy was buried to his chest, but the girl was fully covered. Video taken by a bystander shows numerous adults unsuccessfully trying to dig her out using their hands and plastic pails. She was finally dug out by rescue crews, but couldn’t be resuscitated. News reports and a study show that three to five children and teens die annually in sand hole collapses.
