A 19-year-old Korean student died on Wednesday after a sand pit he dug with friends collapsed on him at Oxnard Beach, Southern California, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The student from Master's College in Santa Clara, Calif. has been identified as Mingyu Sang, also known as Paul, who lived in South Korea before he moved to United States five years ago.
The Oxnard Fire Department in a statement said that Sang along with his friends had dug a sand pit of at least six feet on Wednesday afternoon. According to the fire department officials, he was taking a video with his cellphone before the pit collapsed on him.
"It's a well-populated beach, but there was nobody there to make contact with these individuals about digging deep and how dangerous it is," Oxnard Fire Department Battalion Chief Darwin Base told Los Angeles Times.
Almost 15 minutes later fire department officials arrived at the spot and immediately started digging the sand using bucket hand shovels.
He was then admitted to Ventura County Medical Center following injuries over his body, but he was declared dead at the hospital.
On Thursday morning, the Master's College posted a statement on its website saying:
"Students from The Master's College were participating in a recreational trip to the beach on Wednesday afternoon. At approximately 4:50 p.m., one of our students was involved in an accident. The student had been digging in the sand when he became trapped. The Ventura County fire department was called. The student was rescued and transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
"The college is focused at this time on caring for the student's immediate family, his local church family, and our student body. We have confidence through the student's testimony that his trust was in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and we take comfort in knowing that he is with the Lord. It is our prayer that our God will provide comfort to all those who are grieving at this time."
