Boy Buried Alive at Beach; It's Happened Again

In the second accident of its kind this week, a child playing at an Orange County beach narrowly escaped death Friday evening when a simple hole dug in beach sand nearly turned into a death trap.

NBC4 was contacted Friday evening by eyewitness Dave Nix who told us in an e-mail an 11-year-old boy "was buried alive at Sunset Beach today (Friday) and dug out of the sand unconscious by about a dozen men at 5 p.m." 

"I called 911 while others began digging or ran to get lifeguards near Lifeguard Tower 28 off of PCH and Warner Avenue.  He appeared a bluish-purple color and was brought back to consciousness by the lifeguards and the Fire Department personnel who arrived -- less than 1 minute -- after my 911 call, Nix said.

The boy "...was vomiting, spitting out sand and conscious when we left the beach with my young boys who were really shaken up. The boy used my son's plastic shovel to dig a "tunnel", and the cave-in occurred when he apparently tried to crawl through the tunnel. 

"His mother screamed frantically when she saw a shallow grave of sand where he had been playing and about a dozen men raced in from all directions began digging down to find him and drag him out by hand while I contacted authorities. He must have been buried for 3 to 5 minutes," Nix reported to NBC4.

Nix had the presence of mind to snap a cell phone image of the rescue right after he called 911. "Enclosed is the photo I took with my mobile phone once he was revived. I'm sure the Huntington Beach Lifeguards or Sunset Beach lifeguards have further details in their reports. What is startling is that a boy nearly died at Newport Beach 2 days ago at 54th Street under nearly identical circumstances. Parents need to be informed of the tragedies these seemingly innocent plastic shovels can create in young hands today (my wife just threw ours away at the beach)."

Nix referred to an Wednesday Newport Beach hole collape that trapped 17-year-old Matt Mina five feet below the surface. Mina survived and lived to tell his tale to NBC4.

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Bolsa Chica State Beach honcho Steven Hicks told NBC4 the boy was "playing in the sand with a friend, digging a tunnel this afternoon. He became buried in the sand when the tunnel collapsed. He was pulled out just a few minutes later.  He was breathing but had sand in his mouth and was taken by paramedics to Los Alamitos Medical Center. About two minutes after being dug out he was up and talking," Hicks added.

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