It’s a little game that many children and teenagers have already experienced. However, this banal beach game could have turned tragic on Sunday in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez (Vendée). According to Ouest-France, a teenager was saved by firefighters while he was buried in the sand of the beach at Les Mouettes. The 17-year-old had covered himself in sand. But when he got up, he got stuck and couldn’t free himself, victim of a suction phenomenon.
Seeing the tide rise and endanger the young man, witnesses alerted the Vendée firefighters. The latter had to use a sand removal lance to free the teenager. According West Francethe water had reached the shoulders of the young man.
Although fatal accidents are rare, burial games can be very dangerous. In 2018, a teenager died in the Landes buried under the sand in a hole he had dug. That same summer, a young man drowned in Noirmoutier.