Florida Beach Accident Frenzy Rouses Concern of Tourists after Small Child Falls in Hole and Dies, prompting 9-11 Emergency First Responders to be Contacted in an Acting Effort to Save Helpless Victim

Friday, February 23rd, 2024, 10:47 PM- Ft. Lauderdale FL- A small child accidently fell in a hole, collapsing below the sand after fallen in the pit she dug during a joyful day in the sun with her parents and playing. She plummets in the deep crevice sandbar, then the tide came in and swallowed her whole at Ft. Lauderdale Beach-by-the Sea Tuesday afternoon. A series of strong individuals attempted to assist rescuing the small child, during an overwhelmed situation before First Responder could arrive in responding to the emergency.

Other spectating witnesses contacted 9-11 while under distress. Local calls were reached at Broward County 911 dispatch centers, rushing effort quickly to save the helpless minor child. The contacts were distributed according to the Miami Herold printed publication when the story first was publicized about the incident on Friday.

Local tourists and snowbirds can be witnessed as shouting and crying behind as spokespersons described the dispatchers detailed the troublesome event undergoing the area in covering 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.”

The little died and was pronounced dead upon arrival when taken to the hospital. The 7-year-old was identified as Sloan Mattingly. The child's identity was released according to permission by the parents authorized to the media through Broward County Chief of Police Sheriff Gregory Tony.

nvestigators 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. Mike Stocker /Sun SentinelMore
“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 collapsed.

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.

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.

According to sources the Mattingly family has been visiting Ft. Lauderdale on a trip in South Florida from Fort Wayne, Indiana, when the shocking crisis entailed, according to 21 Alive News, a television corresponding center in the state.

Theresa and Jason Mattingly’s 9-year-old son Maddox were also trapped in the 5-to-6-foot hole, but paramedics were able to get him out in stable condition. Jason Mattingly has survived but his little sister had died from the trauma impact of the compaction of the sand collapse. King said.

Sally Krouse posted a GoFundMe page established to collected benefits to payoff medical benefits of this accident for support of the Mattingly 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.”