LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. — The parents of a 7-year-old girl who died after being trapped in sand at a Florida beach is speaking out for the first time.
On Tuesday, February 20, Sloan Mattingly and her 9-year-old brother, Maddox, were both buried under sand at the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach when the hole they dug collapsed. The siblings and their family were vacationing from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Sloan was reportedly fully covered, while Maddox was only buried up to his chest.
The girl was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where she was pronounced dead later that day.
In an interview with Good Morning America, parents Therese and Jason Mattingly spoke about their daughter and raised awareness on beach safety.
"We're the people that other parents or family members kind of roll their eyes at because we're a little overprotective most of the time and think of everything," Therese Mattingly said to the outlet. "When we go to the beach, we think of water safety. And this never, ever once crossed my mind."
"We were just relaxing," Jason said in the interview. "We were just getting ready to end our day there. And then that's when the incident happened."
During the interview, the family expressed hopes that by speaking out about what happened to their daughter, they can help prevent others from going through the same tragedy, especially during the spring break period.
"I don't know what steps to take in order for that to happen -- for, you know, signage or lifeguards or patrol," Therese said. "But hopefully we can make some sort of change from this."
According to the GMA article, Sloan was a fan of Taylor Swift and loved to make friendship bracelets for her family, friends and teachers, her mother said while wearing some that her daughter had made.
The family said Maddox and his sister were each others' "built-in best friends," though he became an only child "just all of a sudden."
News reports and a 2007 medical study show that about three to five children die in the United States each year when a sand hole they are digging at the beach, a park or at home collapses on top of them. Others are seriously injured and require CPR to survive.
