On the afternoon of Tuesday, August 15th, an 11-year-old boy from Oak Park, Michigan, died after an accident near Sable Creek in which he was buried in one to two feet of sand for over 20 minutes. The boy, playing with a group of other children, was apparently trapped after a tunnel they had dug into the face of the Grand Sable Dunes collapsed and buried the boy in sand. According to eyewitnesses, the boy was extricated from the sand by other companions and an adult family friend who was nearby. CPR was begun immediately. The boy was transported from the accident scene to a waiting ambulance at the Sable Falls parking lot, where he was then transported to Helen Newberry Joy Hospital in Newberry, Michigan. The boy was declared dead later that evening. Agencies assisting in the accident included the Burt Township Ambulance Corps and Fire Department, Luce County Advanced Life Support, Michigan State Police, and the National Park Service. The investigation is continuing.
