AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2006
Qld: Beachgoers warned of sand dangers after teen's death
By Roberta Mancuso
BRISBANE, Aug 17 AAP - Beachgoers are well aware of the perils of sharks and the surf.
But warnings are now being ramped up about the dangers of sand after a young Dutch
tourist died when up to a tonne of sand collapsed on him at a central Queensland beach
yesterday.
What began as an innocent game turned deadly when 15-year-old Edward Klopman was engulfed
by the sand when holes he and his brothers were digging suddenly caved in.
Edward's brother Angelo, 13, was buried up to his neck while the youngest boy, Douglas,
11, managed to pull himself free and raise the alarm.
The boys, who live near Coevorden in The Netherland's north east, had been playing
at Agnes Waters beach in the Town of 1770 on Tuesday when the tragedy struck.
Despite being warned by their parents, Liset and Willem, not to dig too deep, the boys
had scooped out three separate holes up to two metres deep, carving a maze of tunnels
between them.
Their childish game was an accident waiting to happen.
Edward was completely buried for up to 20 minutes by the time rescuers were able to reach him.
Angelo was also in danger of being completely engulfed, with a huge pile of sand above
his head threatening to topple on him.
Angelo was given oxygen and police were able to dig him out with a small trench digger
which, with some good fortune, had been sitting at a nearby construction site.
A day after the tragedy, Angelo, flanked by his parents, bravely fronted the media
to warn of the dangers of digging deep holes in the sand.
"I want to warn all the children and the people and their parents - please, please
be careful because my brother is gone, but maybe we can save others," Angelo said with
his mother interpreting.
Angelo said he did not know how much trouble his brother was in until he heard his last breaths.
"I knew he was dying because I heard breaths and then it was gone," Angelo said.
Police said the boys had dug the holes on flat sand above the water line where the
surface was loose and dry.
Mrs Klopman, who was walking with her husband along the beach when the sand collapsed
on her sons, described the accident as a "nightmare"
"We were very happy in Australia until yesterday," she said.
"We went for a walk and when we came back we saw that it was not good.
"I want to warn other parents and children, please, please be careful because we were
so happy playing on the beach.
"It was so nice but suddenly it happened."
Such deaths, while rare, do occur.
Fourteen-year-old Irish tourist Michael Edward Brannigan died in similar circumstances
on a Sunshine Coast beach in July 2002.
The teen was digging a hole in wet sand in Main Beach at Noosa when the sides of the
hole, which was several metres deep, caved in.
Lifesavers dug frantically for more than an hour before finding Michael's body buried
in an upright position a metre below the surface.
A 15-year-old Melbourne boy also died when a tunnel he and a friend were digging at
Ocean Grove surf beach, south-west of Melbourne, gave way, suffocating him on January
20, 2004.
And only this week, an 11-year-old boy in the US died at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
in Michigan after a makeshift sand tunnel collapsed on him, burying him in nearly a metre
of sand.
Surf Life Saving Queensland urged beachgoers to exercise caution when playing in the
sand, particularly around dunes which had suffered erosion.
"As the sand dries out, it is more prone to collapse and this causes an obvious danger
for anyone playing or climbing around in the sand dunes," lifesaving services manager
George Hill said.
Gladstone Inspector Lyle Mitchell said while such accidents were preventable, boys would be boys.
"I'm sure these boys didn't realise the danger that they put themselves in until this
happened," he said.
"It's a freak accident."
AAP rm/sc/srp/de
KEYWORD: SAND (AAP BACKGROUNDER, WITH PIX)
) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
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