A seven-year-old girl who was killed after she and her brother became trapped in a sand hole they were digging at a Florida beach was 'full of love and life,' according to her heartbroken father.
Sloan Mattingly was pulled out from the sand after being buried for about 20 minutes after the sand collapsed on the siblings, according to officials. Her brother Maddox was rescued from the hole at the Lauderdale-by-the Sea beach and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Their father Jason, 35, confirmed the little girl's passing to Wane 15 and said she was seven years old. Broward police had previously said she was five.
The siblings, their dad and mom Therese, 36, were visiting from Fort Wayne, Indiana when tragedy struck on Tuesday.
An audio of the 911 call reporting the horrifying incident offers a glimpse into the frantic moments on Tuesday as over a dozen adults tried to save the siblings trapped in the sand.
Digger said
Feb 22 2:06 PM, 2024
I remember many years ago this boy went missing. His photo was plastered over every lamp post in town (Southport) and there was a huge hunt for him as the police were convinced he'd been abducted. Decades later they found his skeleton in a sand dune where he'd burrowed a tunnel and it had collapsed feet away from where his family was sitting.
Maddog said
Feb 22 5:13 PM, 2024
😕
Syl said
Feb 22 5:46 PM, 2024
Utterly heartbreaking.
A day on the beach turning to such a tragedy.
jackthelad said
Feb 22 7:03 PM, 2024
Lot of sand dunes around N Wales and they are probably all unstable as far as digging into them is concerned I really don't know the technicalities. What I do know is almost weekly in season there are events that are very close to tragedies but luckily people are able to dust themselves down and live to tell an exciting tale.
This must be devastating for the family.
Magica said
Feb 22 8:53 PM, 2024
How sad, poor little girl. Tbh why wasn't the parents watching them. I never took my eyes off mine!
-- Edited by Magica on Thursday 22nd of February 2024 08:54:00 PM
Digger said
Feb 23 10:57 AM, 2024
Magica wrote:
How sad, poor little girl. Tbh why wasn't the parents watching them. I never took my eyes off mine!
-- Edited by Magica on Thursday 22nd of February 2024 08:54:00 PM
I can't understand how that two year old toddler fell into the river and drowned. Who the hell lets a toddler run along a swollen riverbank? I'm all for putting toddlers on reins.
Magica said
Feb 23 11:57 AM, 2024
Digger wrote:
Magica wrote:
How sad, poor little girl. Tbh why wasn't the parents watching them. I never took my eyes off mine!
-- Edited by Magica on Thursday 22nd of February 2024 08:54:00 PM
I can't understand how that two year old toddler fell into the river and drowned. Who the hell lets a toddler run along a swollen riverbank? I'm all for putting toddlers on reins.
Yes I agree. Too many littlens running off, and parents let them!
Syl said
Feb 23 12:17 PM, 2024
I agree that toddlers should be watched like a hawk, there are too many parents nowadays more interested in their mobile phones than watching their little ones.
The girl in the OP was seven, and her brother was nine, they were together, playing in the sand, with their parents very close by.
I have done the same with my son and grandkids, some accidents are just that, tragic accidents.
Unless it's a known area for sand holes, I don't think blame can be attached to anyone.
Maddog said
Feb 23 4:11 PM, 2024
Syl wrote:
I agree that toddlers should be watched like a hawk, there are too many parents nowadays more interested in their mobile phones than watching their little ones.
The girl in the OP was seven, and her brother was nine, they were together, playing in the sand, with their parents very close by. I have done the same with my son and grandkids, some accidents are just that, tragic accidents.
Unless it's a known area for sand holes, I don't think blame can be attached to anyone.
Yup.
At that age we were running free without any adult supervision. Kids today are given almost no free time to learn how to cope and handle problems..
It's why so many Gen Z kids today can't handle the simplest of life's problems. They never learned how to .
Anonymous said
Feb 24 1:44 PM, 2024
Many children die crossing the road. Many children die in water. Some die falling out of windows or falling down the stairs. This was unusual and there is an audio of it (which I haven't listened to) and so is deemed reportable in order to gain clicks, views etc for the media.
Maddog said
Feb 24 5:00 PM, 2024
Anonymous wrote:
Many children die crossing the road. Many children die in water. Some die falling out of windows or falling down the stairs. This was unusual and there is an audio of it (which I haven't listened to) and so is deemed reportable in order to gain clicks, views etc for the media.
Drowning is the number one cause of death for kids under 4 in the US.
Heart disease is the biggest killer of their grandparents..
Based on all the things we fear and freak out about, you'd never know these two facts, which are fairly preventable.
My granddaughters are almost 3 and can swim well enough to stay above water.
Their grandfather goes to the gym, cycles, hikes and eats a much healthier than average diet..
I'm not sure where I'm going with this except that we often don't use statistical probability when determining risk to ourselves and our loved ones..
Syl said
Feb 24 5:58 PM, 2024
Life is full of risks, we can protect our kids without stifling them, we can try to protect ourselves too....but a life without risks must be pretty boring for many.
In any case, we can live life treading on eggshells, and still get hit by a bus the next time we go out.
Maddog said
Feb 24 7:30 PM, 2024
Syl wrote:
Life is full of risks, we can protect our kids without stifling them, we can try to protect ourselves too....but a life without risks must be pretty boring for many.
In any case, we can live life treading on eggshells, and still get hit by a bus the next time we go out.
My point was that risk is a mathematical formula, not emotional.
It's hard to look at it that way because we are sorta hard wired to let emotions take control.
We just had an 11 year girl in Houston get kidnapped, killed and dumped in a river. This caused the usual freak outs about strangers snatching kids.
In the end, the statistical probability of it being a family member or a friend was the actual result..
So many single moms are worried about some stranger snatching their kid, when they need to be more vigilant about that new guy they are dating..
Syl said
Feb 25 11:55 AM, 2024
Dead right. We do have a law here 'Clare's Law' that gives a person the right to ask police if a new partner has any record of violence.
That wouldn't rule out the 'favourite uncle', but it would lessen the risk of mums new boyfriend hurting either her or her child.
"The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme(DVDS), also known as “Clare's Law” enables the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse about their partner's or ex-partner's previous abusive or violent offending."
-- Edited by Syl on Sunday 25th of February 2024 12:14:43 PM
Digger said
Feb 25 2:20 PM, 2024
Maddog wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Many children die crossing the road. Many children die in water. Some die falling out of windows or falling down the stairs. This was unusual and there is an audio of it (which I haven't listened to) and so is deemed reportable in order to gain clicks, views etc for the media.
Drowning is the number one cause of death for kids under 4 in the US.
Heart disease is the biggest killer of their grandparents..
Based on all the things we fear and freak out about, you'd never know these two facts, which are fairly preventable.
My granddaughters are almost 3 and can swim well enough to stay above water.
Their grandfather goes to the gym, cycles, hikes and eats a much healthier than average diet..
I'm not sure where I'm going with this except that we often don't use statistical probability when determining risk to ourselves and our loved ones..
The number one cause of death in medieval times was drowning. The reason? Woollen clothing.
Maddog said
Feb 25 5:07 PM, 2024
Syl wrote:
Dead right. We do have a law here 'Clare's Law' that gives a person the right to ask police if a new partner has any record of violence.
That wouldn't rule out the 'favourite uncle', but it would lessen the risk of mums new boyfriend hurting either her or her child.
"The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme(DVDS), also known as “Clare's Law” enables the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse about their partner's or ex-partner's previous abusive or violent offending."
-- Edited by Syl on Sunday 25th of February 2024 12:14:43 PM
We don't even have to ask the police of it involves kids.
The guy that did this in Houston had a record of crimes with kids..
A 30 second search would have revealed this, yet the family of the girl let him live on their property and actually take her to school some days.
They will live with their fucking stupidity the rest of their lives..
Maddog said
Feb 25 5:10 PM, 2024
Digger wrote:
Maddog wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Many children die crossing the road. Many children die in water. Some die falling out of windows or falling down the stairs. This was unusual and there is an audio of it (which I haven't listened to) and so is deemed reportable in order to gain clicks, views etc for the media.
Drowning is the number one cause of death for kids under 4 in the US.
Heart disease is the biggest killer of their grandparents..
Based on all the things we fear and freak out about, you'd never know these two facts, which are fairly preventable.
My granddaughters are almost 3 and can swim well enough to stay above water.
Their grandfather goes to the gym, cycles, hikes and eats a much healthier than average diet..
I'm not sure where I'm going with this except that we often don't use statistical probability when determining risk to ourselves and our loved ones..
The number one cause of death in medieval times was drowning. The reason? Woollen clothing.
I can see that. I have swam with my clothes when I was in scouts. It was part of a survival test we took before a week long canoe trip.
It's harder than you think, especially with shoes on..
And I didn't have on multiple layers of heavy clothing.
Anonymous said
Feb 26 7:23 PM, 2024
in medieval times I would think that the number one cause of death among children would be disease (small pox, measles, consumption, plague, cholera ...). The average lifespan of humans being in their mid-thirties - many dying young some living into their sixties / seventies. Maybe under the category of accidents it would be drowning.
Digger said
Feb 26 10:53 PM, 2024
Anonymous wrote:
in medieval times I would think that the number one cause of death among children would be disease (small pox, measles, consumption, plague, cholera ...). The average lifespan of humans being in their mid-thirties - many dying young some living into their sixties / seventies. Maybe under the category of accidents it would be drowning.
Yes, I'm sure it was accidental deaths rather than overall deaths.
A seven-year-old girl who was killed after she and her brother became trapped in a sand hole they were digging at a Florida beach was 'full of love and life,' according to her heartbroken father.
Sloan Mattingly was pulled out from the sand after being buried for about 20 minutes after the sand collapsed on the siblings, according to officials. Her brother Maddox was rescued from the hole at the Lauderdale-by-the Sea beach and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Their father Jason, 35, confirmed the little girl's passing to Wane 15 and said she was seven years old. Broward police had previously said she was five.
The siblings, their dad and mom Therese, 36, were visiting from Fort Wayne, Indiana when tragedy struck on Tuesday.
An audio of the 911 call reporting the horrifying incident offers a glimpse into the frantic moments on Tuesday as over a dozen adults tried to save the siblings trapped in the sand.
I remember many years ago this boy went missing. His photo was plastered over every lamp post in town (Southport) and there was a huge hunt for him as the police were convinced he'd been abducted. Decades later they found his skeleton in a sand dune where he'd burrowed a tunnel and it had collapsed feet away from where his family was sitting.
A day on the beach turning to such a tragedy.
This must be devastating for the family.
How sad, poor little girl. Tbh why wasn't the parents watching them. I never took my eyes off mine!
-- Edited by Magica on Thursday 22nd of February 2024 08:54:00 PM
I can't understand how that two year old toddler fell into the river and drowned. Who the hell lets a toddler run along a swollen riverbank? I'm all for putting toddlers on reins.
Yes I agree. Too many littlens running off, and parents let them!
The girl in the OP was seven, and her brother was nine, they were together, playing in the sand, with their parents very close by.
I have done the same with my son and grandkids, some accidents are just that, tragic accidents.
Unless it's a known area for sand holes, I don't think blame can be attached to anyone.
Yup.
At that age we were running free without any adult supervision. Kids today are given almost no free time to learn how to cope and handle problems..
It's why so many Gen Z kids today can't handle the simplest of life's problems. They never learned how to .
Many children die crossing the road. Many children die in water. Some die falling out of windows or falling down the stairs. This was unusual and there is an audio of it (which I haven't listened to) and so is deemed reportable in order to gain clicks, views etc for the media.
Drowning is the number one cause of death for kids under 4 in the US.
Heart disease is the biggest killer of their grandparents..
Based on all the things we fear and freak out about, you'd never know these two facts, which are fairly preventable.
My granddaughters are almost 3 and can swim well enough to stay above water.
Their grandfather goes to the gym, cycles, hikes and eats a much healthier than average diet..
I'm not sure where I'm going with this except that we often don't use statistical probability when determining risk to ourselves and our loved ones..
In any case, we can live life treading on eggshells, and still get hit by a bus the next time we go out.
My point was that risk is a mathematical formula, not emotional.
It's hard to look at it that way because we are sorta hard wired to let emotions take control.
We just had an 11 year girl in Houston get kidnapped, killed and dumped in a river. This caused the usual freak outs about strangers snatching kids.
In the end, the statistical probability of it being a family member or a friend was the actual result..
So many single moms are worried about some stranger snatching their kid, when they need to be more vigilant about that new guy they are dating..
Dead right.
We do have a law here 'Clare's Law' that gives a person the right to ask police if a new partner has any record of violence.
That wouldn't rule out the 'favourite uncle', but it would lessen the risk of mums new boyfriend hurting either her or her child.
"The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme(DVDS), also known as “Clare's Law” enables the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse about their partner's or ex-partner's previous abusive or violent offending."
-- Edited by Syl on Sunday 25th of February 2024 12:14:43 PM
The number one cause of death in medieval times was drowning. The reason? Woollen clothing.
We don't even have to ask the police of it involves kids.
The guy that did this in Houston had a record of crimes with kids..
A 30 second search would have revealed this, yet the family of the girl let him live on their property and actually take her to school some days.
They will live with their fucking stupidity the rest of their lives..
I can see that. I have swam with my clothes when I was in scouts. It was part of a survival test we took before a week long canoe trip.
It's harder than you think, especially with shoes on..
And I didn't have on multiple layers of heavy clothing.
in medieval times I would think that the number one cause of death among children would be disease (small pox, measles, consumption, plague, cholera ...). The average lifespan of humans being in their mid-thirties - many dying young some living into their sixties / seventies. Maybe under the category of accidents it would be drowning.
Yes, I'm sure it was accidental deaths rather than overall deaths.