To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
A British tourist who spent over three hours trapped in an eight-foot sand hole sipped a beer during his ordeal.
Jensen Sturgeon, 22, had been visiting Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in April when he dug a hole in the sand.
He decided to dig as deep as he could before striking water, creating a quicksand-like trap that caused his legs to sink and become stuck.
More than 30 people, including beachgoers, vendors, and lifeguards, jumped in to help rescue the tourist.
Some were digging around him, while others handed over bits of wood and rope in an attempt to pull the man out, but nothing seemed to work.
The three-hour rescue was made tolerable by a beer handed to Jensen as he sat at the bottom of the hole.
He was eventually pulled out by rescuers as onlookers applauded.
‘I’m the guy who got stuck in that hole,’ Jensen said.
‘I was digging an eight-foot hole and, eh, basically what was going through my head [was], I thought I was going to die.
‘But luckily, I had good people to save me. Obrigado to the people of Rio that helped me out.’
Quick sand may sound like it’s in the movies, but it can quickly trap unwitting walkers, even in the UK.
The most notorious spot is Cumbria’s windswept Morecambe Bay, where visitors are greeted by warning notices, highlighting the danger of not only the quicksand but also fast-rising tides and hidden channels.
At the opposite end of the country, in Essex, the famous Broomway is known as Britain’s deadliest path.
Crossing both sand flats and mud flats, it has claimed more than one hundred lives over the centuries, although not all due to its sinking sands. Rushing tides and strong currents are far more perilous.
A 13-year-old boy was previously rescued from a Welsh beach after he was nearly ‘buried alive’ by sand.
Lifeguards used children’s spades to help release him after he became trapped in a huge hole he was digging at Dolwen Beach in Aberport.
Witnesses heard him screaming for help as he fell down further into the sand.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.