Dad applauds Apollo Bay locals for saving daughter buried under sand dune at Mother’s Beach
Father praises locals for rescuing his six-year-old daughter after she was buried under a sand dune for five minutes
- Father applauds the locals for saving his daughter from the sand dune collapse
- A young girl had a dune collapse on her in Apollo Bay in Victoria
A father has applauded the quick-thinking locals of the coastal town of Apollo Bay for rescuing his young daughter from under a dune after it collapsed on her.
Samba Brown, age six, was pulled from the sand on Mother’s Beach in southwest Victoria by six locals on Friday afternoon.
Her father, Jordie Brown, said his daughter’s mother, Tiffany, looked at their youngest son Hugh when she realized Samba had disappeared.
As a result of a recent storm that undermined the bank, an eight-foot-high dune collapsed, completely burying her beneath it.
When the locals realised, they began digging frantically until they managed to free her, but the girl was still trapped under the sand for nearly five minutes.
Samba Brown, 6, was rescued by at least six locals from beneath the sand at Mother’s Beach in southwest Victoria on Friday afternoon after an eight-foot dune collapsed on her
Jordie Brown (pictured) has applauded the quick-thinking locals of the coastal town of Apollo Bay who managed to save his young daughter after a sand dune collapsed on top of her, leaving her buried
Her father told ABC newsthe scariest part of the whole ordeal is ‘no one saw’ it happen.
“She was underwater for four or five minutes… she hadn’t been able to breathe for a long time,” said Mr. Brown.
The young girl was taken to hospital with X-rays to assess for any damage to her lungs and spine
She is now recovering at home.
Coastal erosion is one of the major problems plaguing the region, with nearly a quarter of Apollo Bay’s beaches affected by sand buildup over the past 50 years.
More than 30 percent of Mother’s Beach has suffered from erosion.
Last year, the residents of Apollo Bay were tired of seeing their beaches deteriorate, one began petition to get authorities to help stop the severe erosion in the area.
Alannah Batho, a resident who started the petition, said her mother broke her leg at a local beach when she tried to step from the family’s beach box onto the sand below.
Coastal erosion is one of, if not the biggest, problems plaguing the region, as nearly a quarter of Apollo Bay’s beaches have been affected by sand buildup over the past 50 years
More than 30 percent of Mother’s Beach has suffered from erosion. In recent times, thousands of cubic yards of sand from the Apollo Bay harbor have been dumped onto Mother’s Beach in an effort to reverse the area’s natural erosion (Photo: Apollo Bay Area Coastal Erosion)
“It used to be a nice swimming beach for all the family, but it is quickly becoming unsafe and unpleasant,” she wrote.
Associate professor at Deakin University, Daniel Ierodiaconou, said the dune collapse was a direct result of sand being dumped on Mother’s Beach.
In recent times, thousands of cubic meters of sand from the harbor of Apollo Bay have been dumped on the beach.
The thousands of cubic meters of sand that have been deposited on the beaches of Apollo Bay are intended to counteract natural erosion in the area.