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Wall of mud buries, kills Charlotte County teen
By
WINK News
Story Created:
Jan 11, 2009 at 8:40 PM EST
Story Updated:
Jan 12, 2009 at 7:41 AM EST
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. - The Charlotte County sheriff's office says a wall of mud collapsed and killed a 15-year-old boy from North Port.
Rescuers say when they got to the scene, all they could see was the top of the boy's head.
Authorities say the teen and his two brothers were helping his father with construction work outside Bethanie Seventh Day Adventist church on Harborview Road. The boy's father had a serious heart problem earlier last week, and the three boys were helping him catch up on installing the parking lot. First responders say the teen had jumped into the ditch when he was surrounded by dirt. Rescuers say the conditions were like quicksand.
"What happened is it created a suction and it caved in," said Dee Hawkins, with Charlotte Fire and Rescue. "When you're working in an area like that, where you have wet sand, you have loose ground, you have to be extremely cautious because everything gets sucked in. Everybody goes down."
Authorities believe the boy was trying to get water out of the ditch to use to mix concrete when he was surrounded by the mud.
Rescuers say the ditch was more than ten feet deep. The boy couldn't be removed for up to three hours, around 6:30 pm.
The teen's name has not been released.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration is now investigating.
