7-year-old girl dies after getting trapped in sand hole she was digging on beach vacation
A seven-year-old girl from Indiana passed away after getting buried alive in the sand hole she was digging with her nine-year-old brother on a beach in Florida.
According to a report by NBC News, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said that Sloan and Maddox Mattingly were on a beach vacation with their parents in Lauderdale By The Sea when they got trapped in a hole that was about five feet deep.
The beach reportedly doesn’t have lifeguards.
Several beachgoers helped free the siblings while multiple agencies responded to an emergency call.
Rescuers used support boards to prevent the sand from collapsing further. Eventually, they used shovels to get Sloan and Maddox out of the hole.
"It's not clear how long the children were trapped before they were rescued," NBC News reported.
They were both hospitalized, but Sloan died later on. Maddox is already stable.
The Lauderdal By The Sea government sympathized with the siblings in a statement posted on Facebook.
“Our hearts are heavy in LBTS today after learning two children were trapped in the sand,” it said. “We are doing everything we can to support our first responders.”
The investigation into the incident is still ongoing, it added.
