Police in Florida found the body of a man who was buried alive after he was discovered Monday by someone walking along a beach on Hutchinson Island.
The individual who located the body spotted it after seeing a part of the victim’s body sticking out of the sand at the beach south of the House of Refuge, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
Emergency personnel responded to the incident at around 9 a.m., Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.
Medics then tried to resuscitate the victim to no avail.
The deceased was 37-year-old Stuart resident Sean Nagel, the sheriff’s office said, according to WESH-TV.
According to police, Nagel died due to suffocation after he was trapped beneath layers of sand that collapsed on top of him, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office stated.
Nagel was resting beneath a sand dune, taking a video of the sunrise when the dune he was resting near fell on him, police said.
Investigators have not found evidence of foul play.
“It appears that the man died hours earlier from asphyxia as a result of being trapped underneath the sand,” the sheriff’s department reported.
Should the sands be tested for safety?
Police said that they are waiting on the toxicology tests, as per protocol. “Those test, however, are not likely to change the outcome of this incident being a tragic accident.”
“I am grief-stricken and still in disbelief to tell you all that my younger brother Sean Alexander Nagel is no longer with us on this earth,” Sean’s brother, Will Nagel, wrote in a Tuesday post on Facebook.
“I know there will be many questions about arrangements so I will post more information once decisions and plans have been finalized,” Will wrote.
“If I don’t respond to anyone right away please understand this is a very difficult time but I do appreciate your prayers and condolences.”
The dune that killed Sean might be an artificially formed one, Indian Riverkeeper Jim Moir told Treasure Coast Newspapers. adding that the sand in such unnatural dunes is often unstable.
“This is sand or dune that’s been deposited by earthmovers, rather than nature,” Moir told the outlet. “It may not have settled naturally over time. It may have just been deposited and not compacted.”
“This might be more expected on an unnatural or a manmade dune,” Moir said.
