Korean student suffocated in sand pit collapse on Oxnard beach

A 20-year-old foreign exchange student from Korea died after a deep sand pit collapsed around him at an Oxnard beach, fire officials said.

Witnesses told fire officials the man was lying on the bottom of a hole that was at least 6 feet deep about 4:50 p.m. Wednesday at Oxnard Beach Park in the 1600 block of South Harbor Boulevard.

He was taking a video with his cellphone when the sand collapsed on top of him, officials said.

Firefighters arrived minutes later and used hand shovels and buckets to free him. He was taken out of the pit without a pulse about 15 minutes later and transported to the hospital.

The man was studying at The Master’s College in Santa Clarita and was spending the day at the beach with friends. His name has not been released.

“It’s infrequent that this happens,” Oxnard Fire Marshal Roderick Thorp said, “But there are other cases throughout the United States.”

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Image: Map of area where sand pit collapse occurred. Credit: KTLA-TV.