ST. GEORGE – A 15-year-old Santa Clara girl involved in an incident at State Canyon State Park passed away late Saturday.
The teen was flown to Children’s Primary Hospital in Salt Lake City Friday afternoon in critical condition after being buried in a collapsed sand pit at the sand dunes in Snow Canyon State Park. The girl was not breathing after she was dug out and CPR was administered by adults for nearly 20 minutes before emergency repsonders arrived on the scene. The girl was air-lifted via Life Flight to Dixie Regional Medical Center where some vitals were reported. She was then taken to Salt Lake City.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office reported the teen was still in critical condition Saturday afternoon. However, Bonnie Midget, a spokeswoman for Primary Children’s Hospital, confirmed she passed away later that evening.
The name of the victim has yet to be released, though Deputy Chief Shauna Jones of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said the information might be released sometime Sunday.
In a statement, Jones said Sheriff’s deputies and officers from Ivins/Santa Clara Police were dispatched to Snow Canyon State Park after receiving a report of a female teen buried in the sand dunes around 3 p.m. Friday.
The girl had been playing with younger siblings who, at the time, had dug a hole in the dunes to stay cool. When the family prepared to leave the area they discovered the girl was missing. They returned to the hole and saw it had caved in, and also saw some of the girl’s hair sticking out of the sand. They dug her out and gave the girl CPR while responders were en route to the scene.
Responders estimated the pit that collapsed to be about 4-feet deep.
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Copyright St. George News, 2012, all rights reserve
Prayers for family and friends. My heart goes out to them. 🙁
You’re a little slow stg news. Her name was released on Saturday on KSL.
Bob, it is true the information both on her death and hers and family names were disseminated through many avenues as early as Saturday evening through social media and other media included. We sought and continue to look to verified confirmation from both the Washington County Sheriff’s office and the hospital. We are still awaiting specifics from the first, and we confirmed this young girl’s passing with the second on Sunday. It is our practice to verify even what appears to be reliable information and we realize that sometimes that means we are not first – but when we report it, you can be assured we have done our work to ensure what we report is substantive and not a “maybe.” That is our commitment to you.
We are promised that further official report today and will publish as received.
You tell them! I would rather have the correct facts then none at all! Keep up the great work!