Teenager buried in sand-dune horror

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The 16-year-old's parents were at the scene as coast guards, police, ambulance and fire officers battled to free him from beneath 5ft of sand.

He was among a group of about 15 youngsters playing in dunes on the beach at Cefn Sidan, near Burry Port, west Wales, where he was staying on holiday.

Paramedics tried to resuscitate the boy, from Wrexham, north Wales, who has not been named. He was pronounced dead after being airlifted to Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

His friends had uncovered his head from the sand by the time a coast guard rescue team arrived.

John Jones, station manager at Burry Port Coastguard, said: "The whole family were around, everyone was shouting. When we got to the area, his friends had uncovered his head, then we concentrated on uncovering his torso. We felt the problem was the weight of sand on his body and all our efforts went into getting the sand away from his chest area."

He added: "The family were shouting at him to help himself, believing that he was conscious and able to help us."

Working in a confined trench, Mr Jones and his colleagues were able to uncover the boy's chest to allow paramedics to give him oxygen within minutes. It took another 15 to 20 minutes to uncover the rest of his body.

Mr Jones said the tunnel was about the length of a car and a girl among the group of youngsters told him she had been able to walk through it upright.

"The sand would have been wet and firm to begin with, but once the tunnel was dug air would have got in and dried it out and that's why it collapsed. I'm 60 now and 40 years ago was the last time this happened and that was a good four miles away, but it was a similar type of sand."