A five-year-old girl died this Tuesday after the hole she was digging in the sand with another child collapsed and the children were partially buried on a beach in South Florida, according to authorities.
The seven-year-old male is admitted in critical condition.
Witnesses to the tragic incident, which occurred on a beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, in Broward County, said that the children were playing to make a hole in the sand when the ground gave way and they were crushed, the girl partially and the male covered in sand only up to his chest.
The hole was about 1.8 meters (5 or 6 feet) deep at the time it collapsed.
A cellphone video recorded by a witness showed beachgoers digging in the sand and trying to reach the trapped children.
Broward Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics responded to the emergency after 3:16 p.m. in the 4400 block of El Mar Drive, where helicopter footage showed several people standing around a large sand hole that was cordoned off.
Rescuers used support boards to prevent more sand from falling while they used shovels to remove the children.
It is unknown how long they were buried.
Although both children were taken to the Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale in critical condition, authorities later stated that the girl, whose identity has not been revealed, died.
The child remains in stable condition.
It is not clear whether the minors were residents of Florida or were visiting or how they could have ended up trapped and drowned in the sand.
It is currently unknown if there was an adult helping the children dig the hole.
