Holiday horror as father gets buried alive
A father who was playing in the sand with his wife and children on a family holiday is now fighting for his life after he was trapped under a collapsed sand dune.
Personal trainer Lee Goggin, 35, was holidaying in Florida with his wife and three young children when they decided to visit Crescent Beach in Miami on Sunday afternoon.
As the children Jace, four, Colton, two, and eight-month-old baby Rylee played in the sand, Lee began building a sand tunnel near some dunes.
As he dug the tunnel it suddenly collapsed on him and he became trapped under the weight of the sand. He went into cardiac arrest before he could be freed.
“He essentially dug a tunnel by hand,” St John’s County Fire Rescue spokesman Jeremy Robshaw told the Miami Herald.
“He was digging alongside the dunes, which are about three to five feet (0.9m to 1.5 metres) high.
“Apparently, the sand collapsed on him and the individual was trapped.”
His family desperately tried to free Lee but to no avail. Even when emergency crew arrived, it took 30 minutes to free Lee from the weight of the sand.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital in a critical condition.
Lee’s sister Rachel Burt, who was holidaying with her brother’s family, described it as a “freak accident”.
“Our family was just starting off on vacation when we stopped in at the beach in St Augustine, Florida to let the kids burn some energy,” she said.
“Lee was building a tunnel in the sand when it collapsed on him.
“He has a heartbeat but he is not breathing on his own. The next 24 hours will be very critical for him and we need all the prayers we can get.”
Lee had previously survived end-stage kidney disease, the Star-Telegram in his hometown of Dallas, Texas reported.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to raise money for Lee’s medical expenses and it has raised $23,500, far surpassing their $5000 goal.