Sloan Mattingly, Fort Wayne, Indiana girl killed by Florida sand hole which collapsed on her and her brother at Lauderdale by the Sea as they were playing along beach during family getaway.
Define tragedy…? A seven-year-old girl and her five year old brother visiting from Indiana met with doom after becoming trapped in a sand hole they were digging along a Florida beach during their family getaway.
Sloan Mattingly who tragically died, was pulled out from the sand after being buried for about 20 minutes after the sand collapsed on the siblings, according to officials. Her brother Maddox was rescued from the hole at the Lauderdale-by-the Sea beach and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
The hole the children were digging was about five to six feet deep when it collapsed leaving the boy buried up to his chest and his sister completely buried beneath him. Despite beach attendees desperate attempts to rescue brother and sister, Sloan didn’t make it out alive, with Maddox now recovering from the ordeal.
Bystanders desperately tried to dig siblings out
The siblings, their dad, Jason, 35 and mom Therese, 36, were visiting from Fort Wayne, Indiana when tragedy struck on Tuesday, Sun Sentinel reported.
An audio of the 911 call (listen directly above) reporting the horrifying incident offers a glimpse into the frantic moments on Tuesday as over a dozen adults tried to save the siblings trapped in the sand.
Witnesses said the children were digging the hole and playing inside of it when the ground gave way. Cell phone footage revealed a crowd of desperate beachgoers desperately trying to dig them out before firefighters arrived.
Bystanders recorded the moments after the collapse showing people on their knees digging with their hands through the sand.
Some tried to hold the walls back to stop more sand from collapsing in on the children.
Rescuers used support boards to keep sand from collapsing further in as they used shovels with the help of good Samaritans to dig the children out.
Sloan did not have a pulse when she emerged from the sand and was declared dead at the hospital, according to officials. Her brother Maddox was seen walking outside the hospital on Wednesday.
Siblings’ school responds
Their school back in Indiana, Lafayette Meadows Elementary School, issued a statement on Wednesday mourning Sloan.
The statement read: ‘It is with a heavy heart that I write this letting you know we lost a precious member of the Lafayette Meadows school family. Sloan Mattingly was a bright, sweet, loving 1st grade student in Ms. Vanbrocklin’s class. Sloan passed away on Tuesday. We will be talking with Ms. Vanbrocklin’s class, as well as Ms. Kilbourne’s class, as Sloan’s brother is a member of that classroom, on Thursday.
‘Our administration team and counselors have support resources available for any student or staff member who is in need during this time of loss.
‘Please keep the Mattingly family in your thoughts and prayers. They have requested privacy at this time. We will pass along any further information the family wishes to share.’
Where were the lifeguards? Where were the parents?
Of note, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea does not currently staff any of its beaches with lifeguards.
‘This doesn’t happen on guarded beaches,’ said Jim McCrady, vice president and Lifesaving Academies director of the U.S. Lifesaving Association Southeast Region, who also works as a surf rescue chief in Hallandale Beach. ‘We do that all day long. We spot hazards and then we mitigate the dangers involved in those hazards. This is a daily thing that happens on a guarded beach, when someone starts to dig a hole. We not only tell the person not to dig a deep hole, but to fill it in before they leave.’
According to a 2007 report in New England Journal of Medicine, between 1997 and 2007, there were 52 documented instances of people who became buried in holes due to sand that collapsed, 31 of those cases resulting in death. The victims ranged in age between 3 and 21 years old.
Last week, a 2-year-old boy was playing on a New Jersey beach when the sand collapsed and buried him alive. The boy’s father was able to quickly save him from the sand pit.
In 2022, a 35-year-old man was found with his feet sticking out of the sand along the Treasure Coast. The victim had his legs up and was leaning back on some sand when it collapsed. Somebody noticed his body three hours later.
