911 calls from the scene of a girl trapped in the sand detail a frantic rescue effort

David Goodhue
·2 min read
10

As a group of men and woman worked frantically to dig 7-year-old Sloan Mattingly out of the sand hole that collapsed around her at the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach Tuesday afternoon, other witnesses made desperate calls to Broward County 911 dispatchers in hopes of saving the child.

In the calls, which were released by the county to the Miami Herald this week, people can be heard yelling and wailing in the background as the bystanders spoke with dispatchers describing the harrowing scene taking place in front of the High Noon Resort.

“The father started yelling for help,” one of the callers said. “The child is caught in a hole in the sand they were digging. The mom is yelling the daughter is in there.”

Investigators on the beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea take photos of the scene of a sand hole collapse on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. A 7-year-old girl died Tuesday afternoon after she and a her brother were digging a hole in the sand on the beach at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea when it collapsed on them, a city official said.
Investigators on the beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea take photos of the scene of a sand hole collapse on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. A 7-year-old girl died Tuesday afternoon after she and a her brother were digging a hole in the sand on the beach at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea when it collapsed on them, a city official said.

“A bunch of men are trying to dig somebody out,” another caller said. “There is a whole circle of men digging in the sand.”

“It’s a little girl. Oh, my God, they’re still digging and yelling,” a third caller said.

READ MORE: BSO identifies children in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach sand hole collapse

Despite the concerted effort among beachgoers, firefighters and Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies to free the girl, she became unresponsive. When she emerged from the pit, Sloan wasn’t breathing, and she had no pulse, according to Pompano Beach Fire Rescue.

“It was an unfathomable accident,” Pompano Beach Fire Rescue spokeswoman Sandra King told the Miami Herald.

According to the 911 calls, BSO deputies arrived within minutes after dispatchers were first called, followed by Pompano Beach firefighters and paramedics.

Yellow crime scene tape marks the area in a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach where a 7-year-old girl died on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, after sand buried her at the bottom of a deep hole she and her brother had dug out on the beach, authorities said. Her brother was hospitalized.
Yellow crime scene tape marks the area in a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach where a 7-year-old girl died on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, after sand buried her at the bottom of a deep hole she and her brother had dug out on the beach, authorities said. Her brother was hospitalized.

“The officer is going to the hole right now,” a caller said.

After firefighters dug Sloan out using support boards and shovels, they rushed her to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where doctors pronounced her dead.

READ MORE: A girl buried by sand died at a Florida beach. It occurs more than people realize

The Mattinglys were vacationing in South Florida from Fort Wayne, Indiana, when the tragedy occurred, according to 21 Alive News, a television news station in the state.

Theresa and Jason Mattingly’s 9-year-old son Maddox, was also trapped in the 5-to-6-foot hole, but paramedics were able to get him out in stable condition, King said.

Sloan Mattingly
Sloan Mattingly

On a GoFundMe page set up by a family friend to help pay for funeral costs, Theresa Mattingly is quoted saying about the incident:

“A freak accident happened yesterday while we are here on vacation and it took away our greatest 7.5 years. 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. We love you beyond any stretch of the imagination. Our sweet Sloan. What we would give.”