VA Boy, 17, Killed After Dune Collapse In North Carolina

MANTEO, NC— A 17-year-old boy from Chesapeake, Virginia died Saturday after he was trapped under several feet of sand in a dune collapse at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in Frisco, North Carolina, the National Park Service said in a statement.

Seashore rangers said they were called around 2 p.m. to an area .10 miles east of off-road vehicle ramp 49 in Frisco, where the boy was trapped in a hole dug in a back-dune area that couldn't be seen from the beachfront.

Officials added that family and friends had been looking for the teenager before they found him buried under the sand after portions of the adjacent dune apparently collapsed into the hole.

Rangers, members of multiple rescue teams, and the teenager's family worked together to try to pull him from the hole while they tried to resuscitate him, officials said.

“Cape Hatteras National Seashore offers our condolences to his family and friends," David Hallac, superintendent of National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, wrote in the Saturday news release. "We urge visitors not to dig deep holes on the beach due to the danger they present to beachgoers and emergency response staff.”

According to the National Park Service, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore is made up of the long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and woodlands of North Carolina's Outer Banks.