Experts Say Child's Sand-Collapse Death on Broward Beach Marks a Rare, Preventable Tragedy

The death of a young girl in a beach-sand collapse in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea shocked even the most experienced beachgoers in South Florida.

Locals who've been playing in the sand their whole lives are familiar with all manner of casualties at the beach — shark attacks and riptide drownings, for instance. But the dangers of digging deep holes in the beach are not widely known, as tragedies like the one that happened yesterday are rare in the region.

On Wednesday, a memorial with flowers left by the shore in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea was growing as visitors sought to honor the 7-year-old victim, who became trapped in the sand while she and her brother were playing and digging by the ocean. A Pompano Beach Fire Rescue spokesperson said that by the time emergency responders arrived, the girl was not breathing. Her brother, 9, is in stable condition, according to multiple outlets.

The girl's family was visiting from Fort Wayne, Indiana, where her father runs a remodeling business. Her elementary school released a statement calling her "a bright, sweet, loving, 1st grade student."

Stephen Leatherman, a coastal ecologist and professor at Florida International University, tells New Times incidents of beach sand collapse are more common in places like California and New Jersey, where many beaches have coarser grains that allow for steeper holes.

"We've got to get the word out that sand is very heavy, and if you get buried in it, you don't have much time," he tells New Times. "Once it collapses, it's hard to get people out. How are you going to get down a hole without collapsing it more?”

Leatherman, who served as an expert witness in a case concerning the death of a 12-year-old boy on a New Jersey beach after a sand tunnel collapsed, says that the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea incident could have been prevented if a lifeguard was on duty.  Lifeguards are generally trained on the dangers of digging down too far into the sand and can stop beachgoers from doing so.

"If you dig a hole, the sand immediately starts drying and with the sunlight and temperature here, it gets very dry. Sand can only hold a 33-degree angle," Leatherman, also known as "Dr. Beach," says. "It's naturally going to collapse, and if anybody walks up to the edge of the hole, it's really going to collapse."

The professor says more education is needed to inform people about the dangers of displacing too much sand on the beach. Holes deeper than two feet can pose a hazard for children, he says.

Pompano Beach Fire Rescue spokesperson Sandra King said the hole dug by the two children yesterday was around five to six feet deep. Emergency crews used support boards to prevent further collapse as they dug the children out. One bystander estimated the girl was trapped for 15 minutes before rescuers were able to pull her body out.

Cellphone video from the scene captured multiple people trying to rescue the two young children before emergency responders arrived around 3 p.m. on February 20.

A Broward Sheriff's Office spokesperson says that this is the first incident of its kind that the department has handled in recent years.

Jim McCrady, an executive at the U.S. Lifesaving Association Southeast Region, told the Sun Sentinel, "This doesn’t happen on guarded beaches."

"We do that all day long. We spot hazards and then we mitigate the dangers involved in those hazards," he said.

Leatherman calls the incident a "horrible tragedy."