A 12-year-old boy who was digging a sand tunnel with friends on a New Jersey beach yesterday was seriously injured after the tunnel collapsed on him. 46-year-old Richard Polasdas, who was visiting from Colorado with his 4-year-old daughter, were also injured when a fire truck responding to the scene struck them. The incident occurred around 3:15 p.m. yesterday on the beach at Long Branch. Sources tell NBC New York the tunnel was deep, and the weight of the sand made it difficult for the boy to breathe.
Lifeguards dug the unconscious child out of the sand and performed CPR. "They were pumping him, pressing on his stomach, trying to bring him back," one bather from Staten Island tells NBC New York. "They kept trying to revive him, pressing, pressing. There was blood coming out of his nose... He didn't move." The Asbury Park Press reports that the child is currently in intensive care.
The fire truck hit Polasdas on Ocean Place, a pedestrian promenade that only emergency vehicles have access to. According to NBC New York, the child who was rescued from the sand had already been rushed to the hospital when the late-arriving fire truck plowed into Polasdas, who threw his daughter out of the way of the truck. She sustained minor abrasions, while her father has multiple broken bones, including a broken hip.
