Desperate dig to free teenager trapped in beach hole

RNLI lifeguards have rescued an 18-year-old man trapped under a sand collapse on Fistral Beach, Newquay. The RNLI lifeguards teamed up with around 25 members of the public, the coastguard, fire brigade and ambulance service in a major, hour-long rescue operation.

Fire crews had to use new specialist equipment to free the man.

The hole collapsed around 5pm on Thursday, leaving the man, who had been visiting the beach with a group of friends, covered up to his mouth in sand.

By the time firefighters and police arrived, people on the beach had joined the effort to dig the man out.

Lee Beresford, watch manager from Newquay Fire Station, says his men put boards around the man’s head and a breathing mask on him when they arrived as there was still danger of a further collapse burying his head.

Beresford told The Telegraph: “If any more of that bank had collapsed it would have been a different story today.

“He was panicking as he realised the seriousness of the situation – he was very scared.”

The fire crew used a new piece of equipment, called a sand lance, to help free the man. The machine is a tube that was slid down to the trapped man’s feet. Air was then pumped in to disturb the sand and help free his legs.

The machine had only been acquired by the brigade this year after making a case that the sand dunes on Fistral Beach are becoming more unstable due to higher tides, which is increasing the chance of collapses trapping beach-goers, reports The Telegraph.

Beresford says the teenager was talking to firefighters and police throughout his ordeal, but went into shock and started shaking when he was finally freed. He was taken in an ambulance to hospital afterwards and has since been released.

“If you are digging holes, you have tons of weight above you, so please don’t dig big holes on beaches and don’t climb into them.

“If you were to dig a big hole in your garden you wouldn’t allow your children to play in it, so don’t play in big holes on the beach,” says Beresford.

HM Coastguard Area 11 Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Coastal Safety has issued a stark warning of death traps, via facebook.

“Digging a hole on the beach is something many of us will remember doing as a child – or even as an adult. But, these seemingly innocent pits could become potential death traps.

“Sand hole collapses are rare but can be lethal if you become trapped in one. There’s nothing wrong with digging holes at the beach and filling them with water for your kids to play in. But if you dig a hole so deep that your head is barely poking out or burrow into a sand dune then you could be putting your life at risk. If it’s taken you three hours to dig your hole – that’s how long it might take someone to dig you out.

“These deeper types of holes are highly unstable. The wet harder sand that you dig out will dry out in the sun making it loose and the deeper you dig the more danger there is of the hole collapsing inwards and potentially trapping you inside.

“The holes can collapse when people fall into them and a casualty can be trapped by cascading sand, making it impossible to move.

“In severe cases the weight could restrict breathing so badly it could be fatal.”

This is the moment the man was pulled from the seemingly six foot hole.

According to HM Coastguard Area 11 Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Coastal Safety, the best way to rescue someone trapped in a sand hole is to create a circle of people digging with their hands, then another outer circle will do the same while also removing the sand from the first circle, more circles of people digging will be added as they become available. This will then create a wider shallow hole with no risk of any further collapse of sand.

“Never leave your hole unattended and always fill it back in so it isn’t a hazard to others,” says the organisation’s statement on facebook.

Image courtesy of Newquay Fire Station.