When you work at a 911 call center, you never quite know what type of call is going to come in. Unfortunately, for those working at the call center in Fort Lauderdale recently, they received many calls about a 7-year-old girl who got buried in the sand at a beach.
Beachgoers were doing everything that they could to help the young girl after she had been digging a hole and it collapsed. She disappeared into the sand and was completely buried for 20 minutes before they were able to finally get her out.
The little girl, Sloan Mattingly was from Indiana and she was at the Lauderdale by the Sea Beach in Fort Lauderdale on February 20. When she was digging a hole, which was described as being up to 5 feet deep, it collapsed.
Sloan was completely buried in the sand and her brother, Maddox, who was nine years old, was buried up to his chest. Approximately 20 people rushed over to help the trapped girl and others were busy calling emergency services.
One of the witnesses said: “You could see everybody digging every time. More help came. There were more shovels arriving on the scene. You could hear them calling for buckets.
“All you can think about is the parents. I mean, and the little boy that was their son. Now, they have to go through a whole different kind of learning to live.”
At about 3 PM in the afternoon, the fire department came on the scene and they use their support boards to keep extra sand from filling into the hallways they were trying to dig her out. They also use shovels to try to dig the children out of the situation.
When they were finally able to pull the little girl from the sand, they took her to a hospital but she was pronounced dead at a later time. The mother spoke about the incident, saying: “A freak accident happened yesterday while we are here on vacation and it took away our greatest 7.5 years.
“Don’t tell us you’re sorry for our loss… don’t do that to us. We experienced the purest human being ever and we are forever changed by her.
“We love you beyond any stretch of the imagination. Our sweet Sloan. What we would give.”
They released some of the 911 calls that came in. It may be disturbing for some to hear:
