The State - News from March 14, 1989

A Goleta beach bluff cave collapsed in an avalanche of sand, killing a 17-year-old youth and injuring a 14-year-old friend who jumped into the clear, authorities said. Hugo Cruz of Goleta was pronounced dead on More Mesa Beach after paramedics and a search team dug his body out of the sand, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies said. His friend, Frank Ramirez, also of Goleta, told deputies that the two were sitting at the mouth of a shallow cave, waiting for other youths to bring them lunch, when the earth suddenly caved in around them. Ramirez was able to jump away, barely escaping being buried, but his friend was asleep and did not have a chance to get away, deputies said.