An 18-year-old died and his sister was rescued after a hole they were digging in the sand at a New Jersey beach collapsed in on them Tuesday, police said.
Levy Caverley, of Maine, died after the accident in Toms River on the Jersey Shore shortly after 4 p.m., police said in a statement. His sister, 17, was rescued and treated at the scene.
The accident happened on the ocean-facing beach on a large barrier island that stretches down the New Jersey coast, Toms River police said.
The pair were reportedly digging a large hole in the sand when it collapsed, authorities said.
The siblings and their family were visiting and had spent the day at the beach, police said. Aerial video showed the efforts of rescue crews using boards and buckets to try to reach him.
Holes or other structures dug in sandy areas like beaches can be deadly when they collapse.
Over the weekend in Utah, a 13-year-old boy died after a tunnel he’d been digging in a sand dune at a state park collapsed on him, authorities there have said.
In 2014, a 9-year-old girl died at an Oregon beach and a man died at a California beach in sand hole collapses.
