Brother of girl who died after trapped in sand 'will always be different'

14 March 2024 , 19:31

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The nine-year-old brother of a little girl who died after she was trapped in a sand hole will ''always be a little different'' after he was pulled out of the sand and his sister reached for his hand.

Sloan Mattingly, 7, and her brother Maddox, were enjoying a family getaway on the beach at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea in Florida when the tragedy struck in February.

Now, their grieving parents, from Indiana, have told Good Morning America their son and his sister were each others' "built-in best friends," even though he is now an only child "just all of a sudden.''

Therese Mattingly said: "I think he's holding a lot in. There's a lot of things we have in motion to help him with that and to help us help him."

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Brother of girl who died after trapped in sand 'will always be different'

Maddox is traumatised by witnessing his sister's death (Facebook)

Maddox after his sister died when the family was on vacation in South Florida (Jason Mattingly/Facebook)

Maddox's father Jason added: "I think he'll always be a little different now, but we're willing to do whatever we need to do to make sure he has the help to kind of process this and move forward with Sloan in his heart.''

The beach was chaos as roughly 20 passers-by frantically attempted to dig the kids out of the sand and their parents grasped onto their children. Jason said: "It's kind of a blur, and it's probably maybe in my mind protecting itself, but it just happened so fast. And in my mind I had her in my hands, but the weight of the sand was too much."

Sloan Mattingly reached for her brother's hand (Facebook)

The grieving mum added that the collapsing sand hole moved so quickly that ''it didn't matter that we were literally right there. It was just a hole. And there's nothing."

Adding that they were the kind of parents that are told to loosen up about the safety of their children, Jason said: ''Everyone tried their hardest. And unfortunately, it didn't work out in our favour.''

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The parents speak on TV (abc News)

The two children were digging in the sand when a 4-to-5-foot-deep hole caved in, burying Sloan entirely and trapping Maddox up to his chest.

Emergency responders arrived but tragically, Sloan was pronounced dead upon reaching the hospital. Her brother was also taken to the hospital in stable condition.

A passer-by said he saw a man digging "massive sand hole" that trapped children in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (CBS News Miami)

The children's uncle, Chris Sloan, described the dramatic moment, explaining how Maddox said Sloan was grabbing onto his leg trying to save herself.

Sloane's parents said she loved the beach and was a 'Swiftie' (Facebook)

The scene cordoned off after the tragedy (Local 10)

He told Oklahoma's News 4: "[...] Later we found out that after the sand had caved [Sloan] kept trying to grab up Maddox’s leg to get up out of the sand, and eventually he couldn’t feel her moving anymore. He added: "The sand had been up to [Maddox's] chest, and he was screaming for help, and a lot of people did come and help."