A 10-year old Swiss boy has died in a tragic accident after being buried in sand while playing at a west coast beauty spot.
The boy and his younger brother were playing in the dunes at Carvalhal Beach, between Odmeira and Aljezur, when a tunnel that they had dug collapsed, trapping the boy under the sand.
After the accident on Tuesday afternoon, the boy was removed from the tunnel by firefighters and was transported in a very serious condition by INEM helicopter to the Hospital of Santa Maria in Lisbon where he died that night.
According to the commander of the Marine Police in Sines, the boy and his brother had been playing near the beach at Carvalhal, a remote spot, where they had dug a hole in a sand dune.
The boy crawled in and the sand collapsed on top of him.
The alert was given at 16.26 and the Odemira fire team, a Life Support vehicle, a helicopter, an INEM psychologists team, the GNR and the Maritime Police all were involved in this saddening event.
