A man claims he saw someone dig a “massive” sand hole that trapped two children on a South Florida beach earlier this week.
Harry Defina told CBS News Miami that he spotted a man digging a large hole by himself on Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Beach while he was walking in the area Tuesday afternoon.
Later that day, tourists Sloan Mattingly, 7, and brother Maddox Mattingly, 9, ended up trapped in a sand pit.
Sloan died and her brother was in stable condition as of Wednesday, after the couple was taken to Broward General Medical Center after the roughly 6-foot-deep sinkhole collapsed, ABC News, CBS News and NBC 6 South Florida reported.
Girl dead and brother hospitalized after being buried in sand hole on South Florida beach
Defina told CBS Miami that 30 minutes after he saw the man digging the hole, he saw people trying to help save the children.
“I’m upset. There’s no way they dug that hole. It was huge,” Defina told the Two Children publication. He added that he believes the children just found a hole and later decided to dig more themselves.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said after the tragedy that the children, who were on vacation with their parents from Indiana, “were digging a hole in the sand when they became trapped.”
The circumstances surrounding what happened to the children were “under investigation” as of Wednesday, according to the office. It is not known how long they were trapped in the sand.
The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional information Saturday.
Sloan Mattingly.
GoFundMe
911 call details moments after siblings swallowed by sand pit: ‘My daughter’s in there’
“Our deepest condolences go out to the Mattingly family at this difficult time,” the city of Lauderdale By the Sea said in a statement Wednesday.
ABC News previously reported that the brother and sister were pulled from the hole using support boards by emergency crews, before the girl was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Pompano Beach Fire Rescue spokeswoman Sandra King called the incident an “unfathomable accident” while speaking with Miami Herald.
CBS News also reported earlier this week that adults may have been helping the siblings dig the hole before it collapsed.
“I’ve lived here for 50 years, I’ve never seen anything like this,” one resident said of the outlet. “I’m shocked. I’m absolutely shocked. I had no idea that digging … could cause something to collapse under someone who was just hanging out and playing on the beach.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
A GoFundMe campaign was started by Sally Krouse of Indiana for the family as they seek help to “bring Sloan home from Florida, cover funeral expenses and ease financial stress as they learn to navigate their new world.”
The fundraiser had raised over $128,000 of its current goal of $150,000 as of Saturday morning.
“Jason, Therese and Maddox must navigate a road no family wants to even think about,” the campaign says, referring to the girl’s parents and brother. “What started as an amazing family trip quickly turned into the devastatingly tragic loss of their 7-year-old daughter/sister Sloan.”
Another statement shared on the site was attributed to Sloan’s mother, Theresa: “A freak accident happened yesterday while we were here on vacation and took the best 7.5 years from us,” she wrote. “Don’t tell us you’re sorry for our loss…don’t do this to us. We experienced the purest human being and she changed us forever. We love you beyond imagination. Our sweet Sloan. What we would give.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education