13 year old dies in Utah state park after a sand dune collapse

[bcla]

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2022/05/16/utah-boy-dies-after-dune/​

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A teenage boy from southern Utah is dead after a sand dune collapsed on top of him last weekend, state park officials said.​

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Rangers at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Kanab said in a news release they believe 13-year-old Ian Spendlove had been digging a tunnel in the side of a dune when it gave way, trapping him under the sand.​

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Around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, a family member of Ian’s who saw the tunnel collapse notified park rangers and other visitors, who started digging immediately to try and locate the boy, the news release states. A state park law enforcement ranger and deputies with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office pitched in with shovels.​

I've been on sand dunes before and even allowed my child to play on one in Death Valley, but with close supervision. I wouldn't have thought of one collapsing like this.

 

[sam_gordon]

He built a tunnel... in SAND. How does that surprise anyone?

 

[DLgal]

He built a tunnel... in SAND. How does that surprise anyone?

This.

I mean, poor kid. He was just playing. But sand is not stable. His parents should have known better.

 

[Sinder]

That's awful that poor kid.
So sorry for his family

 

[MillauFr]

This.

I mean, poor kid. He was just playing. But sand is not stable. His parents should have known better.

They were obviously not geotechnical engineers.

 

[DLgal]

They were obviously not geotechnical engineers.

Neither am I, but I've built terrible sand castles (who hasn't?) and have seen how easily sand collapses.

 

[sam_gordon]

They were obviously not geotechnical engineers.

At 13yo, they may not have realized what he was doing. I feel bad for the family and wish it never would have happened, but if you stop and think for just a moment, it's not surprising.

 

[Christine]

Reminds me of a story a few years ago (this happened to a high-school Facebook friend's daughter). At one of our seashore resorts, there was a big hole dug in the sand. Kids often do this during the day and the holes are left there and they fill in overnight when the sand cleaners come by in their trucks. Friend's adult daughter went out to the beach at night and either fell in or just got into it to sit in one because they're cool--maybe seemed like a fun thing to do? No one knows. They don't know if it just collapsed in on her or the sand truck came over her. Pretty gruesome and really sad.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Local here some years back.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06...and-dunes-explained-at-indiana-national-park/

 

[NotUrsula]

The thought of smothering in solid particles this way is absolutely my all-time nightmare. Dunes are fun to slide on, but only if I've got a sled or something; some solid way to create an air pocket for myself if I flipped and the sand started to come down on me.

I grew up in a rural area where soybeans were harvested; and I remember being terrified after hearing that a local farm kid died when he fell into a silo of harvested beans and drowned in them. It's an absolutely awful way to go; unlike snow, you can't compact dry particles to gain a foothold. They move a lot like water, but are subject to gravity, and instantly shut out all the air while pressing the victim further down.

Just terrible.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Oh, how awful!

 

[pens4821]

I’ve ready similar stories from beach towns. I feel like being that old person when I go to the beach and telling people these stories when they have a big hole they are standing in and still digging. If that gives in the people around you most likely won’t get you in time. I don’t think people really understand just how dangerous this can be (I never did up until a handful of years ago). Just seems like a fun way to play in the sand.

And as someone else said, if you leave it (even a very small one) it could be dangerous. Small ones could cause someone to break an ankle or fall and break something else.

 

[Kanga and Roo]

When I was a child I lived near a football pitch that the Search and Rescue (Coastguard) used as a helicopter landing site for the local hospital. We lived near the coast and when we heard the helicopter we would race to the field to watch it land. One time the crewman jumped out of the helicopter carrying a young lad who was floppy and grey, it was a shocking sight for us kids, we found out after that the lad was 14 and had dug a tunnel in the sand that collapsed, suffocating him. It's horrible to know this tragedy is still happening.

 

[mrodgers]

Neither am I, but I've built terrible sand castles (who hasn't?) and have seen how easily sand collapses.

Same. And that was wet sand at the beach, not dry sand in the desert.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Same. And that was wet sand at the beach, not dry sand in the desert.

It happens at the beach, too.

https://nypost.com/2022/05/17/jersey-shore-sand-collapse-kills-teen-traps-sister/

And he was 18.

 

[RamblingMad]

I ran into several hikers having trouble last Saturday. This doesn't surprise me. People do stuff that put themselves at risk.

So where were the parents at?