Lifeguards warn against digging deep holes after Mission Beach rescue

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Tuesday afternoon, it was all-hands-on deck for Mission Beach lifeguards after receiving a call about a 16-year-old girl stuck in a six-foot sand hole that collapsed around her.

“Checking the high tide on my watch I saw that high tide was around 6 p.m., the incident started at around 5 p.m.,” said San Diego Lifeguards Lt. Jacob Magness.

A rising tide and a ticking clock made the rescue effort even more amazing.

Teen rescued from sand hole at Mission Beach

“That’s what it took, just a lot of hands and a lot of shovels digging until we could free up the female,” said Magness.

Lifelong San Diego residents say they’ve never seen anything like this.

“I’ve never heard of anything like it before. I mean it’s absolutely so sad. When you were sharing what happened, we were a little bit taken aback because we’ve never heard of anything like that happening here,” Lauren Dowler told FOX 5/KUSI.

San Diego lifeguards say they warn people not to dig holes deeper than their waist and tell them once they’re done digging holes to fill them in because they can be hazardous for lifeguards and police officers driving on the beach at night who aren’t able to see them.

Fortunately, the teenager was rescued by lifeguards and good Samaritans on the beach and is expected to be OK.

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