Terrifying Incident: Boy Trapped In Sand Collapse On New Jersey Beach

A 2-year-old-boy is lucky to be alive after sand collapsed around him on a Monmouth County beach.

Police in Sea Girt initially got a call on Saturday about a missing child.

When they got to the Neptune Place Beach, they parents of the child said he had been playing on the beach when the sand collapsed around him.

Sea Girt Police Chief Justin Macko said in a statement on social media that the boy's father rescued him.

"The child's father quickly extricated him within two to three minutes, and the child remained conscious and alert," Macko said.

The boy was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for treatment and evaluation but was released and should make a full recovery.

Sand collapses can be deadly

There have been at least four sand cave-ins at the Jersey Shore since 2012. Two have been deadly.

The most recent involved two teen-aged siblings in Toms River in 2022.

18-year old Levi Caverly and his 17-year-old sister were visiting New Jersey with family from Maine.

Using frisbees, police said the two had dung a ten-foot hole that collapsed on top of them. The sister was rescued, but Levi Caverly died before he could be rescued.

Other incidents include:

⭕ An 8-year-old child survived a sand collapse in Belmar in 2020

⭕ A 12-year-old boy was rescued when the hole he dug in the sand collapsed on top of him in Surf City in 2015

⭕ A 12-year old boy died in 2012 when a tunnel he had been digging in the sand in Long Branch collapsed on top of him

Don't dig

Jersey shore officials have long warned about the dangers of digging in the sand.

Sand holes may seem harmless, but they can easily and very suddenly collapse.

Trapped under the sand, a person cannot breathe. Brain damage and organ failure can occur in minutes.

Plus, sand is heavy, and the crushing weight makes it difficult for a person to move or try and dig themselves out.