-Year-Old Girl Dies At The Beach From Sand Collaspe!
08-31-2014, 10:59 AM
Most people are quick to point sharks,riptides, etc as potential threats at the beach, ignoring this: sand.But that is what killed a 9-year old Isabel Grace Franks at a beach in Lincoln City, Oregon.
According to Lincoln City police Sgt. Brian Eskridge-she dug a big hole with her siblings, sat inside and the hole collapsed.
Police and firefighters dug her out. She was unconscious and not breathing. Emergency crews performed CPR on her and transported her to a hospital, where she was declared dead.
Before the emergency workers arrived, beachgoers had frantically tried to dig her out, but the sand kept collapsing back into the hole, Eskridge said.
That's a common problem when someone gets buried at the beach, Tom Gill of the United States Lifesaving Association said Sunday.
"Once the sand starts collapsing, digging out becomes a technical rescue," Gill said. "It's difficult because the sand keeps collapsing back into the hole, and the more people gathering around, the more difficult it is."
"It's not unusual for kids to build holes and sandcastles in the sand, but a lot of people don't understand it can collapse," Eskridge said. "It's difficult for people to understand how hard it is to get people out."
Dry sand weighs 100 pounds per square foot, and wet sand weights 120 pounds per square foot, according to a 2004 study from the Mayo Clinic, entitled "Accidental Burials in Sand: A Potentially Fatal Summertime Hazard."
Gill said no national standards exist to restrict the depth of holes, though local jurisdictions often set their own rules. For example, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the USLA's home base, beach visitors aren't supposed to dig holes deeper than knee-level, even for small children, Gill said.
There's also no national database of fatal sand collapses, Gill said.
They don't happen often, Gill said, "but often enough that we try to make people aware."
You can read the full story here.
According to Lincoln City police Sgt. Brian Eskridge-she dug a big hole with her siblings, sat inside and the hole collapsed.
Police and firefighters dug her out. She was unconscious and not breathing. Emergency crews performed CPR on her and transported her to a hospital, where she was declared dead.
Before the emergency workers arrived, beachgoers had frantically tried to dig her out, but the sand kept collapsing back into the hole, Eskridge said.
That's a common problem when someone gets buried at the beach, Tom Gill of the United States Lifesaving Association said Sunday.
"Once the sand starts collapsing, digging out becomes a technical rescue," Gill said. "It's difficult because the sand keeps collapsing back into the hole, and the more people gathering around, the more difficult it is."
"It's not unusual for kids to build holes and sandcastles in the sand, but a lot of people don't understand it can collapse," Eskridge said. "It's difficult for people to understand how hard it is to get people out."
Dry sand weighs 100 pounds per square foot, and wet sand weights 120 pounds per square foot, according to a 2004 study from the Mayo Clinic, entitled "Accidental Burials in Sand: A Potentially Fatal Summertime Hazard."
Quote:Quote:But according to the Mayo study, airway obstruction is an even bigger concern than sand stifling lung and diaphragm expansion.
"Dry sand burial can totally engulf and compress a person... with no air pocket for breathing," the report said. "Depending on the age and strength of the child, just 1 foot of sand may overwhelm respiratory and diaphragmatic force,"
Quote:Quote:The hole containing Franks was big enough for a crouching adult to fit in, witnesses told KATU.
"Although accidental sand burial has its own set of clinical problems, clearing the airway is the main focus of treatment. Airway management at the scene of the incident may be crucial and lifesaving."
Gill said no national standards exist to restrict the depth of holes, though local jurisdictions often set their own rules. For example, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the USLA's home base, beach visitors aren't supposed to dig holes deeper than knee-level, even for small children, Gill said.
There's also no national database of fatal sand collapses, Gill said.
They don't happen often, Gill said, "but often enough that we try to make people aware."
You can read the full story here.