Witness of Florida sand hole collapse says man helped kids dig

A witness to 7-year-old tourist Sloan Mattingly getting swallowed and killed by a sand hole said an unidentified adult dug the “massive” hole — which he estimates was at least 18 feet wide and six feet tall.

“I was walking by the beach and I saw a man, 40-ish years old, thin, medium height — he was digging a really big hole,” Harry Defina told NBC Miami of the tragedy on Lauderdale-by-the-Sea last Tuesday.

“I looked at him and he looked back and I walked away … I didn’t think to go over and tell him not to do it,” he said of the hole that was already up to the unidentified man’s chest.

“I’m even upset that someone would imply that those kids dug that hole,” he said of Mattingly and her 9-year-old brother, who also fell in but was pulled out alive.

“They didn’t dig that hole. It was massive and it ended up being like 18 feet by 6 feet,” he recalled.

Dafina soon saw the tragedy unfold as the children, on vacation in Florida from Indiana, were swallowed up by the same giant pit.

“I see kids in the hole. I could see the boy a little bit, but all I can see,” Defina said, choking up.

“I’m not going to be able to finish this … All I could see was the top of the girl’s head,” he said.

“I saw the father — he was just beside himself.”

The dad managed to pull his son out, but the girl remained trapped for more than 20 minutes, he said. She was later pronounced dead at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.

The first grader’s mother, Therese, said her daughter was the “purest human being” in a message posted on a GoFundMe page for the family.

“A freak accident happened yesterday while we are here on vacation and it took away our greatest 7.5 years,” she said. “Don’t tell us you’re sorry for our loss…don’t do that to us. We experienced the purest human being and we are forever changed by her,” she wrote.

The fundraiser to help the family cover funeral costs had raised over $145,000 by Monday morning.

Friends and family of the Mattinglys back in Fort Wayne, Indiana, have been trying to support the family following the unimaginable tragedy.

Burn Boot Camp, the gym Therese belonged to, was also collecting money to help support the family.

“Mom Therese was a committed Burn member for over 2 years, and Sloan and her older brother Maddox were regulars in Childwatch,” Burn Boot Camp wrote on Facebook.

“They moved to Ft. Wayne in 2020 but still kept in touch with their community here and often came down to visit. Many of our Carmel members know this family closely including our owner Kristen, who also owned the Fishers location while the Mattingly family attended there,” the post read. “Within our Burn community in the Indy area, this hits so close to home.”

Video of the horrifying incident shows first responders and good Samaritans frantically digging sand out from the hole to try and rescue the girl.

Firefighters were seen using shovels and boards to clear the sand away from the hole as they tried to reach the girl during the time-sensitive rescue.

There were 52 instances in which people became buried in holes due to collapsed sand — with 31 of them dying from 1997 to 2007, according to a New England Journal of Medicine report.

The victims ranged in age from 3 to 21 years.