A 2-year-old boy gave his parents the scare of their lives over the weekend when sand collapsed and buried him alive as he played at a Jersey Shore beach, authorities said Monday.
Sea Girt Police say they were called to Neptune Beach shortly before 11:30 a.m. Saturday for a report of a missing child. When they got there, they encountered the toddler's parents.
The boy's father apparently had been able to extricate the child from the sand pit within two to three minutes of being swallowed up, officials said, as the dad dug frantically. He remained conscious and alert and was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
Police said the child and his father had not been digging a hole, and the ground simple collapsed under the child.
The child spent Saturday night at the hospital and is now recovering at home.
The Sea Girt Office of Emergency Management, Department of Public Works, and Police Department all mobilized to the scene. Borough officials established communication with the US Army Corps of Engineers, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and Weeks Marine to address the incident.
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The affected area was secured, restricting public access, and personnel from Weeks Marine are ensuring on-site security until representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers and Weeks Marine arrive to assess and evaluate the site. Chopper 4 was over the scene mid-Monday morning and showed the gaping hole cordoned off, preventing anyone else from walking on an area that could be unstable.
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Sea Girt added close to 600,000 tons of sand to its beaches since early January. The beaches had just reopened a week before the incident.
In 2022, an 18-year-old died after the hole he was digging in the sand in Toms River collapsed and suffocated him.
