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After woman's death on beach, Ocean City Beach Patrol warns of dangers of holes in sand

Reed Shelton
The Daily Times

Although many of its safety tips revolve around the open water, the Ocean City Beach Patrol has also consistently stressed the danger that surrounds holes dug in the beach.

Beach Patrol Capt. Butch Arbin, while relating several near-disasters involving children that have happened on the town’s beach in his memory, said that the patrol enforces a strict ordinance regarding holes in the sand.

Ocean City Beach Beach Patrol has had an increase in water rescues after the storm that passed through over the weekend. Tuesday, August 1, 2017.

“During the day we enforce an ordinance that no hole can be any deeper than knee-deep to the smallest person in the party,” he said.

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The reason for this, he said, is as simple as it is often overlooked by beachgoers.

“People just don’t realize that in the case of a cave-in it happens suddenly, and anyone around you will have a terribly hard time digging you out,” he said.

Arbin said the weight of the sand surrounding someone stuck in a cave-in is so great that it can be tremendously difficult to extricate the victim.

“We’ve had grown adults in these situations, trying their hardest and failing to pull their children out by their legs,” he said.

In a July post to the patrol’s official Facebook page, an image was shared of a young child digging a deep hole into the sand —  one which could have easily proved deadly, the post read.

“If this hole had collapsed the outcome would have been a fatality,” the post read.

Rick Taylor, owner and operator of RH Taylor Construction, Inc., in Salisbury, said the difference between holes in sand versus those in dirt is night and day.

“Just by virtue of the moisture and old vegetation that’s in dirt it tends to stay in place pretty easily,” he said. “With sand though the granules rarely stick together — even when they’re damp — and they’re prone to collapse really suddenly.”

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He said that whenever the need to dig a hole in sand comes up for him, it’s an extra amount of effort to shore up the sides tightly to prevent cave-ins.

“It just has no adhesion at all,” he said. “If you’ve ever seen an hourglass you have the right idea of how it behaves.”

On Twitter @ReedAShel