Boy killed when sand tunnel he dug collapses

updated 2:07 p.m. ET Aug. 16, 2006

GRAND MARAIS, Mich. - An 11-year-old boy died at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore after a makeshift sand tunnel collapsed on him, officials said.

The boy and other children were digging Tuesday into the face of the Grand Sable Dunes when tunnel gave way, covering the boy in 1 to 2 feet of sand, Pictured Rocks Superintendent Jim Northup said.

The boy was buried for more than 20 minutes before bystanders dug him out. They tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him, and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Park officials declined to release the name of the boy, a resident of Oak Park.

Chief ranger Larry Hach said to his knowledge, no one else had died in a similar incident at the lakeshore. No warnings about digging sand tunnels are posted, he said.

“We’ll be doing a board of review on this visitor fatality and see what recommendations come out of that,” Hach said Wednesday.

The park, which stretches along more than 40 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, includes sand dunes, beaches and sandstone cliffs.

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