Sand collapse kills 9-year-old girl at Oregon beach

A 9-year-old girl died after a sand pit dug by her family collapsed at an Oregon beach, police said.

The young girl was playing in a 5-foot-deep pit on a beach in Lincoln City around 5:15 p.m. Friday when the sand became wet and collapsed on her.

Lincoln City Police Lt. Jerry Palmer told the Los Angeles Times on Saturday that bystanders “were working frantically” to rescue her and officers arrived on the scene almost immediately, but the sand was very compacted and it took rescue crews several minutes to free her.

The girl was not breathing when she was freed, Palmer said. She was rushed to Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Palmer said the girl had been at the beach with her parents, siblings and several family friends, all of whom dug the hole over the course of the day.

The girl was playing alone in the hole when the incident occurred, according to Palmer, who said children often don’t understand the danger of shifting sand.

“Kids don’t appreciate the fact that a hole that you can stand in can easily collapse in around you,” he said.

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