A 10-year-old boy from Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J., is breathing easy today after having to be rescued after his head got stuck in a hole he had dug in the sand.

The boy and his siblings had been trying to make an L-shaped tunnel through an embankment in the sand at the beach on Long Beach Island Wednesday afternoon. When the boy stuck his head in the tunnel, his world literally caved in on him.

Boy's Sandy Bush with Death
Watch VideoThe quick actions of lifeguards and police save a boy from certain death after the tunnel he dug in the sand collapses on him.


"It collapsed and I couldn't move or breathe," the boy said Thursday.

The child's air supply was cut off for about a minute as his mother -- who didn't want to be identified, bystanders and lifeguards worked to dig him out.

"The mother was pounding the sand, screaming hysterically," witness Susan Coyne said.

The boy was given CPR until he started breathing on his own, police said. He was conscious and responding to EMTs, who took him to Southern Ocean County Hospital.

"I can't thank the police, LBI, the lifeguards enough," the mother said.

The beach patrol constantly warns beachgoers not to dig holes in the sand any deeper than their knees.