Encinitas collapse: Bluff collapse kills 3 on beach; witness describes race to dig out victims – CBS News

Encinitas, Calif. –– A regular surfing sea dart changed into once closed Saturday after a cliff collapsed, sending an entire lot sandstone onto beachgoers and killing three other folks. A 30-foot-prolonged slab of the cliff plunged onto the sand advance Grandview Beach north of San Diego, prompting a frantic effort to rescue victims buried within the debris.

A KNSD-TV helicopter captured photographs of sea dart chairs, towels, surf boards and sea dart toys strewn referring to the sand. CBS San Diego affiliate KFMB experiences cadaver canines had been on scene to back identify if anyone else can also be trapped below the pile.

Other beachgoers and lifeguards at a nearby tower scrambled to the towering pile of debris, which changed into once estimated to weigh tens of thousands of kilos, to back dig out victims. “I noticed first responders, and I noticed lifeguards frantically digging other folks out of the debris,” Jim Pepperdine, who lives nearby, educated the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Pepperdine acknowledged he noticed other folks making an are trying to resuscitate a girl earlier than her body changed into once covered.

A girl died on the scene, and two extra other folks later died at hospitals. Every other particular person changed into once taken to a hospital, and an particular person that had minor injuries changed into once treated on the scene, in line with statements from town.

Their names and ages had been not correct away launched. The entire victims had been adults, authorities acknowledged.

A skip loader changed into once introduced in to circulate the dense, heavy debris. No diversified victims had been figured out by slack Friday evening.

The ocean dart is reached by picket stairs from a automobile automobile parking lot above. Homes atop the cliff had been not in any possibility, Encinitas Hearth Chief Mike Stein acknowledged.

The cliff remained unstable and complex the search effort, Stein acknowledged.

Suburbs north of San Diego comprise contended with rising water levels within the Pacific Ocean, pressuring bluffs alongside the soar. Some bluffs are fortified with concrete walls to cease multimillion-greenback properties from falling into the sea.

Long stretches of sea dart in Encinitas are slim strips of sand between stiff waves and towering rock walls. Folk lounging on sea dart chairs or blankets are in most cases surprised as waves roll past them and within a few feet of the walls.

Grandview Beach is moderately slim, with tides excessive this week. Surfers lay their boards reliable against the bluff.

Cliffside collapses should not unfamiliar because the ocean chews away on the terrifying of the sandstone, authorities acknowledged. Some sea dart areas had been marked with signs warning of roam dangers.

Several other folks comprise been killed or injured through the years in bluff collapses. The Tribune reported that Rebecca Kowalczyk, 30, of Encinitas died advance the equal situation on Jan. 16, 2000, when a 110-yard-huge chunk of bluff fell and buried her.

Bluffs give formulation four to eight times a year in Southern California, but “nothing of this magnitude,” acknowledged Brian Ketterer, southern enviornment division chief of California Affirm Parks.

“Right here’s a naturally eroding shoreline,” Encinitas Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles acknowledged. “There might possibly be in actuality no rhyme or motive, but that is what it does naturally. …. Right here’s what it does, and this is how are seashores are in actuality in part made. It in actuality has these screw ups.”