There is a picture of Ocean Rescue chief Dave Elder in a 6 foot hole someone dug the other day. Scroll down and you will see it. Yesterday an 18 year old was killed in NJ in a collapsed hole he dug. People need to start reporting these holes as they are being dug.

www.facebook.com/oregonin...

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You weren't kidding...this is nuts. Poor kid. Horrible

Click to follow link...

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Unfortunately most people have no idea what just One gallon of sand can weigh. Anywhere from 12-16lbs for one gallon. I never understood the idiots digging huge holes on the beach and just leaving them

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Yesterday in NJ

6abc.com/toms-river-beach...

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Even with an air pocket in front of your mouth, the sand will fill in around your chest every time you exhale until you can inhale no more. I feel awful for the victim and the family.

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The OBX, and Buxton in particular, earned the "Darwin Award" because of this back in 1997:


"Privacy on the Beach

1997 Darwin Award Winner

Confirmed True by Darwin

(4 December 1997, North Carolina) He just wanted some privacy. Daniel Jones suffocated when a sandy 8-foot hole caved in as he relaxed inside it on a beach chair. Observers on the Outer Banks beach in Buxton, NC said he might have dug the hole for privacy and for protection from the wind.

Beach-goers used their hands and plastic toy shovels in an unsuccessful attempt to claw their way to Jones. "You wouldn't believe the outpouring of concern, people digging with their hands, using pails from kids," Dare County Sheriff Bert Austin said.

Rescue workers with heavy equipment took nearly hour to free him from 5 feet of sand, while 200 people looked on. The 21-year-old resident of Woodbridge, VA was pronounced dead on Thursday."


Don't be the next award winner while on your vacation, people.

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I remember this one in 2014 very well.

www.nbcwashington.com/new...

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The sister survived.

The big problem with holes in the Outer Banks is that its not a violation to dig them to begin with. Most collapse/compression deaths due to holes are people dying or nearly being killed as the hole is being dug by them or used by them. Later the big risk is traumatic fractures to other falling into a hazard they can't see.

The focus should perhaps be not as much on filling them i after digging them, but not digging to begin with.

They fill themselves in easily. That's rather the problem.

The 17 year old sister survived, and NJ hasn't had a sand hole related death for a decade, though there were rescues of youth in 2020 and 2015.

The 13 year old boy digging in a sand dune in Utah over the weekend died as well.

See a home on pilings? It stands because of the powerful forces of physics, and the physical properties of sand.

Any hole deeper than the height of your knee can be fatal. Please don't dig, and report people who do dig holes.

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OSHA regulations allow a trench , or shear cut, up to 5' in elevation. But not in sand, but only in competent material. What a shame.
I think it's time for us reasonable people to approach hole excavators and alert them to the risks. I know I'll be doing that this year.

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If it were me, my redneck humor would walk over and mark the edge of the hole with a stick or fence slat. Then I'd tell them don't mind me, that's just so rescue knows where dig for the bodies when it collapses. Y'all keep digging.

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If it were me, my redneck humor would walk over and mark the edge of the hole with a stick or fence slat. Then I'd tell them don't mind me, that's just so rescue knows where dig for the bodies when it collapses. Y'all keep digging.

Good one Greg! I think I'll be going over to offer sheeting and shoring installation so they have a safe "Working" experience...

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I apologize for the caps but...

WHY DO PEOPLE FIND THIS TO BE ENJOYABLE!?!?!

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Who's enjoying it? Can't read neither...

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I apologize for the caps but...

WHY DO PEOPLE FIND THIS TO BE ENJOYABLE!?!?!

Sarcasm does not relate to enjoyable.

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Boggles the mind.

I have never known or spoken to anyone (personally or digitally) that won't immediately tell you how stupid/dangerous it is. Yet almost every year you see or hear of people digging their own grave at the beach.

Boggles the mind.

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If it were me, my redneck humor would walk over and mark the edge of the hole with a stick or fence slat. Then I'd tell them don't mind me, that's just so rescue knows where dig for the bodies when it collapses. Y'all keep digging.

Kinda like, when a hurricane is tracking our way and knocking on doors to urge evacuation, for those that want to stay behind leave them with a toe tag to fill out/attach and/or write your name/address on the inside of your forearm.

A few times, I've, in a very "non Karenish" way, mentioned the potential risk of a cave in when coming upon severely deep hole diggers...."thanks, we got it" is about the best one gets. Lest we also forget, first responders occasionally have to run the beach...dropping a corner in a hole can be catastrophic.

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My family and I routinely fill in holes when we go out for a sunset walk. Sigh. I always take a flashlight at night.

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If it were me, my redneck humor would walk over and mark the edge of the hole with a stick or fence slat. Then I'd tell them don't mind me, that's just so rescue knows where dig for the bodies when it collapses. Y'all keep digging.

Good one Greg! I think I'll be going over to offer sheeting and shoring installation so they have a safe "Working" experience...

I'll keep a few dune snakes in my pocket. When the hole's about thigh deep I'll toss one in with the occupant.

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Forty years ago give or take, a bunch of friends from Richmond camped at Ocracoke for two weeks. This was before you could make reservations fwiw.
One guy found enough driftwood/lumber to set poles in a circle on the beach, lash planks between them for seats, and tie a canvas tarp across the tops for shade. So far so good, the high tide came up far enough to wet your ankles when you were relaxing in his little structure and the weather was beautiful for early spring.

The next day he dug out the center to make a 30"(?) deep 5' x 5' pool for relaxing in the shade. So far so good.

The high tide at noon didn't even come close to reaching it and he had to fill it all back in and go sit in the ocean. Not fun. But funny.

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My mom sprained her ankle in a hole about a foot deep when she and dad were living in Cherry Grove Beach, SC. On crutches for six weeks. Just out shelling one day and stepped in it.

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If it were me, my redneck humor would walk over and mark the edge of the hole with a stick or fence slat. Then I'd tell them don't mind me, that's just so rescue knows where dig for the bodies when it collapses. Y'all keep digging.

Good one Greg! I think I'll be going over to offer sheeting and shoring installation so they have a safe "Working" experience...

I'll keep a few dune snakes in my pocket. When the hole's about thigh deep I'll toss one in with the occupant.

I do love the suggestions and had a good gut laugh with all three! I mean, I am not laughing at the catastrophe and hate that it happened to that boy, but sometimes people just have to throw it back in their faces on the moronic choices they have made when we see them in the beaches we visit. Kinda teach them a lesson. A good lesson for life.

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www.foxnews.com/us/maine-teen-new-jersey-beach-dead-buried-hold-sister-rescued

That's a heck of a hole they had to dig to get them out. Must be almost a dozen people in it.

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I think we all dug holes in the sand , a kid thing, but this is over kill . Who’s watching these kids?

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Why isn't there water in the bottom of that beach hole that deep and that close to the beach? I expected to see him standing in water.

Edit. Nevermind. Looks like he is in water right where he is standing.

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I get angry thinking about the gentleman in the hole. He could be killed or injured trying to fill it in. I hope they catch the dumbass.who left this mess. There should be a large fine and jail for endangering the public.

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