Frantic rescue effort fails to save girl, 9, trapped in beach sand collapse

A nine-year-old girl has died after a hole she was digging at the beach collapsed, suffocating her.

The girl, named by NBC as Isabel Grace Franks, had been digging the hole at a beach in Lincoln City, Oregon.

Rescuers and beachgoers tried frantically to save her, digging out the sand which had engulfed her.

Police Sergeant Brian Eskridge told NBC the suction when a sand pit collapses makes it especially difficult to rescue those trapped.

"This is a horrific accident," Sgt. Eskridge said. 

"Any time you've got a sand structure, if they dig, there's the potential someone can get trapped in it. It's really dangerous, and people aren't aware of it," he said.

Tom Gill of the US Lifesaving Association told CNN people didn't understand how hard it was to rescue someone trapped in such a way.

"Once the sand starts collapsing, digging out becomes a technical rescue," Mr Gill said. 

"It's difficult because the sand keeps collapsing back into the hole, and the more people gathering around, the more difficult it is."