Family of man who was buried alive breaks silence
The family of Josh Taylor, 25, who was buried alive at a beach on Bribie Island on Saturday, have broken their silence as the young man continues to fight for his life.
It took 15 people to pull Josh out of the sand pit, after he accidentally fell in head first and knocked over some sand, causing him to briefly be buried alive.
A witness who helped rescue Josh said that the group told him they had dug the sand pit to cook a pig, similar to the traditional Maori cooking style of hangi.
“He stood up off the chair, the sand had given away a little bit underneath him,” the witness said.
“He stumbled back. He’d put his arms out to obviously break the fall. He’s continued going down and knocked sand as he’s put his arms out," he added.
When the witness was called over to help, he “realised someone was head first in a hole and I was just digging, digging, digging."
“All of his family were screaming at us, telling us to help, telling us to get rope so we could pull him out. It was pretty gruesome,” Nathan said.
“There were like 15 men on the rope pulling and he did not budge.”
“When I first went up to the hole, I couldn’t even see his foot. That’s how deep it was.”
When they managed to pull him out, Josh had sustained further injuries from the force of the pull, and he was without a pulse for 45 minutes after the horrific incident.
His friends and family took turns giving him CPR until he was flown to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, where he currently remains in a critical but stable condition.
On Wednesday Josh's uncle, Barry Taylor, spoke to 7NEWS about his nephew who was “fighting hard” to stay alive.
“He’s still critical, he’s in ICU, and we’re awaiting the results of more tests,” he said.
“He’s fighting hard mate, he’s really fighting hard, his heart’s still beating.
“We’re devastated — it’s really been hard for us to comprehend what’s happened to Josh.”
Barry described his nephew as a “vibrant” and “energetic” person who “loves the outdoors, fishing and camping”.
“We’re still able to see him now and we’re very grateful for their help,” he added.
A family-friend has started a GoFundMe to help relieve Josh's family of some of the costs of his medical care, with almost $58,000 raised of its $70,000 goal.
Images: Nine News/ Yahoo News