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Subscribe to RSSA California beach party turns deadly after 6-foot deep sand pit collapsed on a 20-year-old man who was laying inside the pit to take pictures of his friends. KNBC's Beverly White reports.
A college exchange student in California was killed Wednesday after a sand pit he dug with friends collapsed on top of him.
The 20-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was an exchange student from Seoul, South Korea at Master’s College in Santa Clara, Calif. He died of injuries suffered when a large pit that he and other students had dug caved in around him at about 4:50 p.m. at Oxnard Beach Park in Southern California, officials from the Oxnard Fire Department said in a statement.
“I think the kids were just having fun on the beach,” Oxnard Fire Battalion Chief Darwin Base told NBCLosAngeles.com. “There was a big group of them down there. They were taking pictures of each other and from what I understand the individual was laying back in the pit and taking pictures of his fellow students and that’s when it sloughed and came in on him.”
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Firefighters arrived to the scene at about 5 p.m. and began digging through the sand with shovels and buckets. The fire department said it took at least 15 minutes to reach the victim.
Rescue crews performed CPR on the man when he was extricated, and he was taken to Ventura County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses said the pit in the sand was about six to eight feet deep. It was not known why it collapsed.
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Base said digging holes in the sand can be extremely dangerous because the sand and surrounding soil tend to be very unstable. He said lifeguards will warn people who dig holes, but the stretch of beach where the student was buried did not have a lifeguard nearby.
In the New England Journal of Medicine, a group of doctors reported in 2007 they had assembled 52 documented cases involving people buried by sand when a hole collapsed, in which 60 percent of the incidents were fatal, the Ventura County Star reported.
There are no ordinances against digging on the beach in Oxnard.
The man’s name and hometown in Korea have not been released pending the notification of his relatives.
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Leave a Comment:
Natural selection anybody?
Or Darwin Award winner? That's very unfortunate and always sad to hear about a life lost over pure stupidity.
More proof (as though it were needed) that a college education will not cure stupidity.
I guess none of the students were studying to be an engineer. At least I hope not.
My first thought too. He should at least be a nominee. This is why construction crews use trench boxes, especially when the hole is deeper than it is wide. Doesn't take a genius to conclude that sand isn't cohesive and the hole could cave in easy. Not trying to sound heartless or anything just stating facts. This was avoidable. Condolences to his family and hope others learn from this.
It is time
What were the students doing between 4:50 and 5pm when the firefighters arrived? Didn't they have shovels of their own?
you people are just real pieces of work. How many of you dug huge sand pits growing up, given the chance, even as young adults? I NEVER heard of anyone dying in a sand pit when when was a kid. Only in the last few years have I heard about this happening. Sadly it has to stop because now we know. However, someone has died. Try and have a little more class.
GimDan,
Have a nice day...
thank you Creek Dog... This is really sad, even more sad because it's an exchange student and someone is going to have to call this poor boy's parents and explain to them their son has died. Every parent fears something could happen if their kid goes to another country. Their worst nightmares have just come true.
QUOTE: "Witnesses said the pit in the sand was about six to eight feet deep. It was not known why it collapsed."
Perhaps because it was built out of sand - 6 to 8 feet high...clearly an unstable building component!
I never thought I'd say this but I'm glad I live in Oregon, it's a lot thicker, rockier.
exactly thats why it such a good idea to have a entire dorm full of concealed weapon permit holders on colorado college campus. just a matter of time before some dumb ass drunk kid either shoots someone or themself
Before you congratulate yourself too much, visit the Oregon Dunes National Seashore, anywhere between Florence and Coos Bay: 55 miles of fine, yellow sand in which something like this could easily happen, and a few areas with quicksand, to boot.
"Witnesses said the pit in the sand was about six to eight feet deep. It was not known why it collapsed."
Maybe it collapsed because it's @!$%#ING SAND!!
I think that this group got a little carried away with themselves and they didn't even think of the structural difficulties related to digging deep holes in the sand.
Guess this kid learned a civil engineering principle the hard way, the last he ever saw.
How many thousands of years have we known that lions eat people, and yet people still get eaten by lions. "Sadly it has to stop because now we know" is a non sequitur. And people who have class don't use the word.
Enough is enough! When are people going to realize, that no one will be safe in this country until sand is outlawed! Stop the insanity!
like sands thru and hour glass so are the day's of our lives...i remember grandma...and her hankie...
@highway..sand doesn't kill people, people kill people. ;)
It collapsed because it was sand. You don't have to be a structural engineer to understand that.
What isn't known is how these adults weren't aware of the danger. My 11-year-old son could have told them they shouldn't be doing what they were doing.
Obviously, your 11 year old son has more common sense than these college students.
The scary part is even after hearing about these same incidents over and over again, they don't learn or believe it could happen to them.
Why do people feel so compelled to go to the beach and dig a hole? I always thought the idea was to build a sand castle not your own grave.
@machspeeddemon
I couldn't believe it when I read that in the article either. Apparently whoever wrote it isn't any smarter than these college kids were
ditto... this isnt rocket science, but maybe they should make it part of a enrollment criteria as a measure of common sense. i have a hard time believing teachers actually are earning their pay, much less good parenting by these stupid, dumb actions. but then again, we can chalk another one as a runner up for the Darwin Awards.
Exactly, Backcountry. The article later states that Cheif Base said it collapsed because the sand is very unstable. Do they just hire the writers who flunked out of Journalism School? Do editors still proof read?
They are not doing it to be mean They do not expect people that do not live at the beach to know that it is dangerous to dig deep holes in sand that's why they warn people. Just like when the red flags go up for rip currents heed the warning and stay out of the water
This is why labor crews don't pile the dirt they dug out, next to the hole, that added weight on the edge of the hole will eventually cause a cave in every time.
Half the mega buck homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean are built on sand, one good rain or minor earthquake in the right spot and you have a houseboat.
Hey Patty,
Perhaps if they drove up and told all but one of them to get out of the hole, cause a collapse and pass out shovels that would have been better?
It doesn't take a smart person to know that sand collapses. Even a stupid antlion with a brain smaller than the head of a pin knows how to dig a pit in the sand that won't bury it alive.
What is needed is a tough law againstdigging holes in the sand!! Anyone caught digging anything more than a teaspoon's worth of sand from the beach should become an instant felon with lifetime parole after a 35 year mandatory hard labor prison term!! That would show these college punks who's boss and what you get when you go to the beach to have fun, this is the United States, the land of examples of just how far the criminal justice system can reach into everything including making felons out of people who have made mistakes!!
Some senator could get re-elected on pushing legislation on this thru and into law!
suma..it would just be easier to ban sand.
All sandpits should be made illegal and all parties arrested (sarcasm)
not all parties...just the democrats and republicans...they're the one's digging us deeper in debt...plain bob 2012...for real...
If sand is outlawed then only outlaws will have sand.
WTF??? There have only been HOW MANY stories like this, that they didn't know about?
...
This was not his fault.
There were no warnings against this type of activity written in Korean much less posted anywhere.
...
@ nothing new here-1200whatever....He was an exchange student; probably knew at least SOME English, but even then...what does that even have to do with this? Warnings against this type of activity?? It's common sense! I can't believe anyone with access to news media or even just word of mouth isn't aware of the dangers here. It's so obvious!!
I understand that the surviving students went home to find comfort with their pit bulls.
No posted warnings, and the sand itself did not look at all aggressive.
There aren't any posted warnings not to step in front of trains either, this is pure lack of common sense, not a regulation issue.
But liberals think that there should be laws for everything. To hell with common sense. Like our government should only spend what we can afford. Where is the logic in that. We should spend and get all we can even if we pass the debt on to our children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren.
Take away all the sand. Its just too dangerous (again, sarcasm)
rgmoon, I tend to lean more left then right but I and my liberal friends still believe in personal responsability. I'm willing to bet a lawyer will contact the family and convince them to sue somebody so the lawyer can take 40% of the settlement. If you scuba dive or surf with sharks you're risking getting bit, if you hang glide you're risking an accident, if you have unprotected sex you're risking all kinds of things and if you dig a really deep hole in unstable material you're risking getting buried. Unfortunatly common sense seems to be lacking these days. People need to take responsibility for themselves and deal with the consequenses of their actions. If you're going to bring politics into this please don't paint all liberals with the same brush. And it's not like the previous administration didn't rack up a huge debt to pass along to the next.
Maybe Korean sand isn't as unstable as U.S. sand.
Thus continues the perpetuation of the U.S. mantra - It's your fault I'm an idiot.
I live on the beach and I've seen more than one idiot tourist dig a big hole for their children to play in.
Ok, ok. So... a tourist is an idiot because they may not know that it's unsafe. Perhaps they are ignorant to the possibility that it could be dangerous. Perhaps they have never seen the beach, ocean and sand. That's quite possible. People who live in Arizona and have never seen snow may not be aware of all the bad things snow can do. Not everyone knows everything. I didn't realize this was some sort of epidemic, and it's never occurred to me to waste time digging holes without a purpose.
Know what I think every time I go to the beach? How idiotic some people are for living on the beach and risking a tsunami coming and destroying their home and killing their families. So... I suppose it's all a matter of perspective on what makes an idiot.
Digging a hole in itself is not a problem. Just don't dig it deeper than the height of who will be in it, and make it wider than it is deep. A thin, deep hole is the problem.
It's just like construction trenches. Regulations exist 'cuz not every worker knows the dangers and not every company cares to take the time to protect them. Happens way to regular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oAWOrJ4uUk Trench collapse- Youngstown OH, 2010
people will always dig holes at the beach.
1. it's easy.
2. you don't get dirty.
3. if you do it in YOUR back yard, it's hard, it's dirty and you have to fill it back in.
ron white said it best "you can't fix stupid"
It's tragic, but the danger should also be commonsense, particularly for a college student. What a horrific way to die.
This solidifies my theory that one's intelligence cannot be rated by their degrees. I believe this one qualifies as an educated idiot.
Having a degree doesn't mean you are intelligent. Having a degree doesn't mean you are capable of abstract thought. Having a degree doesn't mean you have ever had an original thought. Having a degree doesn't mean you can pour p--s out of a boot if the directions were written on the heel. Having a degree just means you didn't absolutlely fail as a student.
Your statement solidifies your own idiocy. Having a degree does not make you educated in all aspects of life.
what puzzles me is this person was with other students yet they waited for the fire dept to come and dig him out? They had enough time to dig halfway to korea, what were they doing????/
They said the boys were trying to dig to him! It was a six foot deep hole and as you know you shovel some and some goes back in. Very sad! They need to have warning signs posted! If they have warning signs posted for other things why not this? It wouldn't take too much to add it to the other marine life warning posts. I wondered the same thing about how so many people die from this and it just keeps happening. These kids don't read the news and many adults don't either. This is why they need to post something at the beach. It will cost initally but it will save a life or two!
niece, I respectfully disagree with you. People need to learn to think before they do stuff. And if you've ever dug a hole in the sand you've seen the sand sliding back into it as you dig so I believe it is a issue of common sense. Warning signs every where for things that should be common sense just dumb people down even more because they are expecting somebody else, like the government, to be responsible for them. There just doesn't seem to be much personal accoutability anymore. People don't stop and think because they think they don't have to. If there isn't a sign posted it must be safe...Really?
Happster
As a late in life college student, I saw the "intelligence" of many college students. Having book smarts does not make you common sense smart. If anything is easy to move by a person, (sand, snow, water, etc) it will be easy to move on it's own.
niece, if you start putting up one sign, then hundreds will follow. Don't dig deep holes, don't bury yourself in the sand where vehicles might drive, don't leave children be unattended, don't swim in hard waves or in any warnings, don't go in the water if you see a shark fin, don't climb on slippery rocks, etc., etc, etc. Soon there will be only signs and no room for people to enjoy the beach.
People, even those from other areas, know that there are risks. They just don't care. It is the ME syndrome. If they get hurt, it is someone else's fault and they sue, if they die, the families of the fools sue. Sooner or later, true negligence claims will not have teeth due the the "stupidity" claims.
If we need to put up warning signs for everything that can go wrong at the beach, the entire beach will be covered with signs.
Putting up signs is not the answer, and even it they did, who is to say they would've followed them? Oh then what, blame the city because there weren't enough lifeguards to make sure they followed the rules and weren't holding everyone's hands? Sorry but they did something stupid and this guy paid for it. Personal responsibility and common sense. No else, nothing more. Sad this happened but sometimes you do something stupid you pay with your life, that's just how it is. Additional rules and government telling us how to live everyday is not the answer. This is how people learn not to do dumb things and has been that way since before we were apes in the trees. That is how evolution works.
vstevenson1,
I'm sorry that you feel the need to attack other posters. But clearly you can also see that having a degree doesn't guarantee intelligence.
My condolences to the young mans family. It IS a horrific way to die.
It's not rocket science why it collapsed. There was no lateral support to keep the walls from sloughing down on top of the man.
When these types of incidents happen, it is nothing more than a case of sheer stupidity.
Condolences to the family for having such a stupid son? Nice. You should go to the funeral and laugh at them. Westboro Baptist Church?
Mr. Thanatos- that is just wrong to say. Yes, it may have been a stupid idea to dig the hole but to say you should go to the funeral and laugh? wtf?!?!
Mr. Thanatos is an idiot mean child! Thats the only explanation for that idiot. I'm not even going to call him a person! Maybe someone will laugh at yours, yes you will die someday too!
Doesn't "thanatos" translate from Greek as "death?" Don't look too deeply into the abyss, sir, or it will look back into you.
kljjtl - maybe you should recognize sarcasm when is so blatantly obvious? Mr Thanatos was being sarcastic towards Xdm9mm's crude comment. Get a brain.
+A for Wisco418. I was, of course, being sarcastic about Xdm9mm's "sympathy" for the victim's family. He's a known troll and all around rotten person (and I think he might be a cop, too - go figure).
Reading comprehension has never been a strong suit for most of the brain dead individuals that post on this site. Frontal lobe damage from chronic alcohol and drug abuse would be my first guess.
niece1964, however, is just another sad case of multiple genetic developmental disabilities and must be excused for her ignorance (again).
Krakondack - I have looked death in the eye so many times in the last ten years, I no longer care about the Abyss. I have absolutely no doubt that Hell awaits me. Sarcasm is the least of my sins. I have earned my name.
Wisco, Xdm9mm's comment was not crude, it was the truth. It is sad the young man died, but the incident was stupid. You inserted words that he did not type. He did not say Condolences to the family for having such a stupid son.I thought the comment was sincere, not like your feeble attempt at sarcasm.
College students are not always know for common sense. Example. The Texas A&M bonfire that collapsed a few years ago. Every year they tried to go higher and higher. It eventually fell. What goes up WILL come down. And the designers of the bonfire were engineering students.
i thought all the brain dead individuals that post here where the MSNBC writers &proofreaders ,it looks like they use the "auto correct"feature to proofread !
Mr. Thanatos
Known troll?? Excuse me, but my sympathy for the family is true, and it IS a horrific way to die. Fortunately I personally don't know anyone who has died that way, however, I have worked with people that did. To say it haunts them even years afterward is an understatement.
Oh, I'm NOT a cop, but I do fully support our Military, Law enforcement on a federal, state and local level and all other Emergency and First responders. I surmise you believe I'm a cop due to the fact I carry and have no sympathy for the low life scum that preys on people. Sorry if I offend your sensibilities, but suck it up.
Obviously as you so denigrate the "reading comprehension" of others on this board, you might want to look in the mirror. You obviously could not mentally separate my expression of sympathy for the family from a comment about a line in the article. I'm sorry, but a first grader would be able to make the distinction. Obviously YOU either had the frontal brain damage you note others have suffered, or you failed sandbox in kindergarten. Personally, I would suspect a combination of the two.
A tragedy...still
"Witnesses said the pit in the sand was about six to eight feet deep. It was not known why it collapsed." Duh, it's sand, and simple engineering.
As Isaac Newton woud say:
"It's Gravity Stupid!"
Ah. Seems to be so simple. But, what if it was 6 to 8 ft deep... but also 25 wide?
So unfortunate. Having innocent fun and then something like this happens. I'm sure the family will be devastated.
Condolences to family and friends.
Participating in a hazardous activity is not innocent fun - it is reckless.
Is it innocent fun to stand in a parking lot while a sports car races at you at 40/50mph, intending to leap into the air as it passes beneath? Anyone who digs a hole deeper than 2 feet in sand is wildly reckless.
"Anyone who digs a hole deeper than 2 feet in sand is wildly reckless."
Two feet is dangerous? Did you wear a helmet through your entire childhood too?
Look, I get it, the guy dug a dangerously deep hole (6-8 feet). But the degree of callousness and general smarter-than-thou attitude displayed in dozens of comments so far is pretty depressing. And comparing it to standing in a parking lot and playing chicken with a sports car?
Why don't we at least make a valid comparison. It's like riding a skate board or a motorcycle without a helmet. Stupid? Yes. Do people do it all the time? Yes. As dangerous as standing in the path of a speeding sports car with the intent of jumping out of the way at the last second?
Not even close.
Take pictures of what is happening and everyone there and warn them. The pictures will be worth a fortune in the subsequent lawsuit. that will have an effect
the article doesnt say but i just hope the victim was wearing safety glasses. i have had sand in my eye before and its no picnic.
How would safety glasses have affected this outcome?
Uncle Henry, that was hilarious!
Poor Uncle Henry,
The lights are on but no one is home.
Oh did the big beach bully kick sand in your face? You need to get the Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension muscle building course. Never be a 98 pound weakling again.
Henry, I am sure he had his beer goggles on. Maybe that was part of the problem.
wtf??????/// the guy died! safety glasses??//
As i go through the comments on some of these new articles and i see your saftey glasses comments i cant help but laugh out loud. PRICELESS. love it!
"It was not known why it collapsed.", and the very next line reads, "...digging holes in the sand can be extremely dangerous because the sand and surrounding soil tend to be very unstable." Duh!!! I see people doing this all the time and I warn them about going to deep. Being killed in this manner is Nature's way of preventing them from becoming mining engineers in the future.
Some of the comments here are so rude. When someone is unfamiliar with a new terrain, even innocent mistakes can happen very quickly. I grew up around the coast and know about sand, yet I have a cousin who has never been to a beach. I am moving from a scalding hot southern/barely winter environment to a barely 70 degrees/cold climate next year. I am sure I will do something the natives say is stupid. Lord bless me.
Don't eat the yellow snow.
Don't try to make friends with the moose.
If you have to drive on ice, your brakes are not your friends.
Snow can collapse, too, so while you're avoiding yellow snow and moose-befriending, be careful not to dig yourself a grave. Also, long scarves can get tangled in all sorts of equipment. (Isadora Duncan learned that one the hard way.)
See how helpful and non-rude we can be?! (Oh, look-more great advice follows!)
If you have nuts, keep them warm with "long John's", and don't put your tongue on a metal pole to see if it freezes and sticks, because it will, and this makes you look really stupid . . .
Do not, under any circumstances, lick a sign post.
What ever you do, don't get into a shooting duel with Sarah Palin.
Don't pee upwind
My sentiments exactly. Stupidity and unfamiliarity are not the same thing. The people with the insulting remarks are simply miserable that nobody will miss someday. I live in an extremely hot environment, and everybody that moves here learns that you can't leave meltable objects in their car during the summer. We don't call them "stupid". We just say that they learned the hard way.
Don't mess with the local girls till you know who they are related to. Don't make any remarks about anyone until you know who all the extended family is. Think with the bigger of your two heads.
I am one of five kids, we did this all the time because we live close to the cost, NEVER had a hole come close to collapsing.
Chris M, it sounds like you're saying some people don't know that heat is hot. It's kind of you not to call them stupid.
don't wear your lead filled snow shoes dancing...i said...lead...lead filled...lead filled snow shoes...
Very sad but very preventable and unnecssary. And as others have noted - - what a dumb thing to say in the article: "It was not known why it collapsed." Umm, maybe because that's what sand pits/holes do?
@nothing new here-1200374
Ones survival starts with ourselves. If you think everyone needs signs to always tell them how to survive, I don't believe you have a very long lifespan into the future.
Apparently the exchange student was not studying engineering.
Why did his friends wait for firefighters to arrive, why didn't they all pitch in and dig him out or at least start the process.
Exactly!!
How did they make the 6- 8 foot hole? Probably was not with just their hands and feet. Also how were they getting in and out of the hole? Did they not see the sand falling each and every time they went in or out of it.
Don't walk onto a frozen pond. It probably only looks frozen.
Between this and leaving children/pets in hot cars...when will we ever learn?
So let's see what creative ambulance chaser figures out a way to have his family sue someone.
This is called digging hole for yourself.
Sand, eight foot hole, book smart, and beer, pot or JD. = death.
S-squared to12 pack+shovel= DOA
Did that one get a good laugh in MAT 091?
now every state beach will have a sign like this stick figure in and hole with sand coming down on it with eyes X'ed out.
cost about $20 million to us the taxs payers, for smart college students to learn once more.
Its not only college students that need to be warned. I'm sure some of you wouldn't have known if you had not read this article. I have already seen several people make stupid comments like "we have dug hole at the beach many times and never once had one even close to colapsing"! This person thinks it only happens to other people and not them and they will teach there kids to dig holes to bury themselves too!
got to wonder how many idiots do this alone or with drunk friends ,then get buried alive&and are never found?,bet a few people on the missing persons list are buried in the sand all by themselves
These are the same people who voted for Obama's "Hope and Change". Is it clear where we are headed now?
Why would you make a mean-spirited political statement on a story like this? A boy, young enough to be my son, died.
BTW, he was an exchange student, and only 20 years old. It's unlikely that he voted for Obama when he was 16 years old and still living in Korea.
Your comment is not only mean-spirited, but also dumb-assed.
Reiko, I think this shows that joesasnit is the kind of person who didn't vote for Obama - and thus is a good reason to not vote for the Republicans. As you put it, mean-spirited, in every sense of the word mean. As well as not a good reader, as well as one who ignores facts.
should there be a rain warning - drowning - looking up with one's mouth open