Australian man dies after being buried alive in sand at beach party | World News
A man died after being buried alive in sand while partying with friends and family on a picturesque island.
Josh Taylor, 25, was left fighting for his life after he fell into a hole on a beach on Bribie Island, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
The group had been cooking a pig in a sand pit at the time of the freak accident, according to MailOnline.
Josh was given CPR at the scene before being flown to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.
But his life support was switched off today while his family was by his side.
In a statement, Josh’s family said he ‘fought as hard as he could and is the most courageous person we will ever know’ who would be missed ‘every minute of every day’.
An eyewitness to the accident said Josh had stood up and lost his footing, tumbling headfirst into the 1.5m pit they had dug into the sand as the walls collapsed on top of him.
One fellow beachgoer was leaving with his family when Josh’s friends ran over and frantically asked for help.
The witness, named only as Nathan, said: ‘I realised someone was head first in a hole and I was just digging, digging, digging.
‘When I first went up to the hole, I couldn’t even see his foot. That’s how deep it was.’
Nathan told NCA NewsWire that there must have been around 15 people digging in the sand to get Josh out before emergency services arrived.
He did not have a pulse after being freed and would-be rescuers attempted to revive him.
Rangers in the area also used a defibrillator on him before paramedics arrived on the scene.
Josh’s uncle Barry Taylor spoke to the media outside the hospital yesterday when he explained his nephew was ‘really fighting hard’ before his death.
He said: ‘We’re devastated – it’s been really hard for us to comprehend what’s happened to Josh.’
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