A 17-year-old has sadly died while digging a hole on the beach in Italy. The sand collapsed to him while he was in the hole. According to local outlet Corriere della Serra, teen Riccardo Boni died.
He had been vacationing at Montalto di Castro when he started digging a hole in the sand with his siblings. Sadly, the walls of the hole collapsed on him after they dug it 5 feet deep.
Sadly, the boy's father was unable to dig him out in time to save his life. First responders also failed to revive the teen. It's not the first time that someone has died from collapsing sand. Officials advise beachgoers not to build deep holes.
Digging Holes In Sand Can Be Deadly
"The lethality of sand is its ability to compact around you," says Christopher Moir, a pediatric trauma surgeon at Mayo Clinic who published a report in 2004 on the matter. Moir observed two tragic deaths related to the issue. Sand essentially crushes and confines the buried person, causing them to be unable to draw breath.
"Sand is horrible because it will flow around to every single part of your body so that you're encased," says Moir. "You are entombed, essentially."
In his report on the incident, Moir and his co-authors wrote, "Greater awareness by public health and safety officials at beaches, sandboxes, sandpiles. And natural play areas may prevent potentially lethal accidents."
Meanwhile, Capt. Butch Arbin, who oversees the Ocean City Beach Patrol in Maryland, also said he's participated in several sand rescues over the years.
"Parents actually may be digging their own kid a grave and don't even realize it," he says. Holes in the sand can collapse without warning. You may not be enough to save your children from being crushed. So it's better to not let them dig in the first place.
"Adults argue with us, 'I'm here watching,' " he says. "I'm not going to let you watch your kid dig a 6-foot hole and then get buried, because we're not going to be able to get him out."
