The death toll in the horrific California cliff collapse that took place on a crowded beach outside San Diego ticked to three Saturday, after two hospitalized victims succumbed to their injuries.
A 30-by-25-foot section of rock weighing about 120 pounds per square foot crashed onto the sand near Grandview Surf Beach in Leucadia around 3 p.m. Friday, the Associated Press reported.
“They were facing the ocean,” Encinitas Fire Capt. Larry Giles said Saturday of the victims. “So, it came from behind them and basically overtook them and crushed them.”
Authorities have not released the names of the victims, including one woman who died on the beach. Two other people suffered minor injuries.
Officials “used heavy equipment . . . to extricate” the woman from beneath the massive boulders, Encinitas Deputy Fire Chief Robert Ford said in a Saturday news conference.
The collapse scene was “horrible . . . I can’t imagine being at the beach and your life-changing in the blink of an eye,” witness Jackie Benedict told a local NBC affiliate.
Beach chairs, towels and umbrellas were strewn around the fallen sandstone, as firefighters and rescuers surveyed the damage, video of the scene shows. Homes sit atop the cliffs, overlooking the beach.
Giles, who said he’s witnessed previous collapses, said they’re “actually fairly quiet . . . what you’re hearing is the impact of the weight landing on the sand . . . if you dump a bucket of sand on the beach, imagine that times 1,000. That’s what you’re going to hear.”
Clean-up crews raced the encroaching ocean Friday night, as high tide crept closer to the crash site.
Four search and rescue dogs combed the site to ensure no other victims were trapped, Ford said. The cliffs are the property of the homeowners
A portion of the beach surrounding the cliff collapse remained closed Saturday, after a geotechnician determined an adjacent portion of the cliff is at risk of collapse. The lifeguard stand was also moved away from the area, Giles said, adding that the homes were not at risk.
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