The man who fell into five-foot hole and was buried alive in sand on Bribie Island has been identified as Josh Taylor.
Queensland Paramedics and an RACQ Lifeflight rescue helicopter crew were called to help the 25-year-old man after he fell into a hole and was buried in sand on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, just before 2pm.
Nathan, a witness to the incident who helped dig Taylor out, told 7 News that the hole had been dug to cook a pig in.
“He stood up off the chair, the sand had given away a little bit underneath him,” he said.
“He stumbled back. He’d put his arms out to obviously to break the fall, he’s continued going down and knocked sand as he’s put his arms out.
“He was that deep in the hole that you could not see him, his feet, unless you were standing on top of the hole.”
A herd of people came to Taylor’s aide, digging him out before tying a rope to his feet to pull him from the hole.
“There were 15 fully grown men on the end of this rope and he still would not budge,” Nathan said.
“That’s when the paramedic was like pull him this way .. . the suction gave way and he popped out.
“I’m praying that he pulls through this.”
Taylor’s family are by his side at the Princess Alexandra hospital where he remains in a critical but stable condition, The Courier Mail reported.
Nathan was leaving the beach with his family when a group of men ran over yelling for help to rescue their friend from under the sand, he told NCA NewsWire.
When he arrived at the scene, the 25-year-old’s family and friends were desperately digging to to get him out.
“I realized someone was head first in a hole and I was just digging digging digging…” he said.
“When I first went up to the hole, I couldn’t even see his foot. That’s how deep it was,” he said.
“All of his family, were screaming at us, telling us to help, telling us to get rope so we could pull him out. It was pretty gruesome,” he said.
After some time of pulling and digging, the young man finally burst through the surface of the sand, but the force of being pulled out caused him further injury, Nathan said.
“It was pretty gnarly when he popped out. I threw up,” Nathan said.
“He broke. The suction, the force, of everyone pulling.”
When they got him out, the man did not have a pulse and rangers began performing CPR.
Rangers in the area also applied a defibrillator before the arrival of paramedics.
A helicopter pilot landed on the beach to deliver the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Critical Care Doctor and flight paramedic as close to the scene as possible.
The rescue crew then flew the man to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition for further treatment.
It is understood it took 45 minutes before the man’s pulse returned.
QAS Paramedic Peter Batt praised the actions of the people who helped out.
“The fact that they have got a return of pulse on this young man after an extended period of CPR, is evidence that good CPR was being done, it’s a credit to those people who got in and helped with their first aid,” he said.
The doctors at Princess Alexandra are now working to save the man’s life.
Paramedics told Nine News the tragedy happened at a beach gathering with friends.
The friends dug a hole in the sand and the young man fell head first into the hole before the sand collapsed around him, burying him alive, Nine reported.
Bribie Island, part of Queensland’s Moreton Bay region, is a popular holiday destination.