[imagesource:gencraft/ai]

Josh Taylor was buried alive in the sand when he fell into a large hole on Queensland’s Bribie Island, believed to have been dug to roast a pig.

The young 25-year-old man was left fighting for his life after falling into the hole on the popular beach last Saturday afternoon, becoming buried under 1.5 metres of sand.

It took around fifteen men to finally pull him free from the sand pit, which was dug to cook a pig, similar to the traditional Maori cooking style of hangi.

Daily Mail reports that his friends and family took turns providing CPR until he was flown to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane by emergency services. However, he passed away in hospital “with his family by his side” after his life support was switched off.

In a statement, the family said Mr Taylor ‘fought as hard as he could and is the most courageous person we will ever know’ who would be missed ‘every minute of every day’.

The family had launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the medical bills, which stated that “The unimaginable has happened to their beloved son, Josh, a vibrant and adventurous soul who has brought so much joy to those around him.”

Image: GoFundMe

A witness said that Taylor had stood up from his chair, lost his footing and stumbled into the gaping sand hole when suddenly the walls of the pit fell in on him.

Image: Facebook

Another beachgoer, Nathan, was leaving with his family when a group of men ran over yelling for help to rescue their friend from under the sand. When he arrived at the scene he saw everyone ferociously digging:

‘I realised someone was head first in a hole and I was just digging, digging, digging,’ he said. ‘When I first went up to the hole, I couldn’t even see his foot. That’s how deep it was.’

Image: Nine News

‘All of his family were screaming at us, telling us to help, telling us to get rope so we could pull him out. It was pretty gruesome,’ Nathan said. ‘There were like 15 men on the rope pulling and he did not budge.’

Eventually, after about 45 minutes, Taylor finally burst through the surface of the sand, but the force of being pulled out caused him further injury, Nathan said.

‘It was pretty gnarly when he popped out. I threw up,’ he said. ‘He broke. The suction, the force of everyone pulling.’

Taylor did not have a pulse when he was pulled out and rangers began performing CPR, also applying a defibrillator before paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital.

Being buried alive is any human’s worst nightmare, so our thoughts go out to Josh’s family as they comprehend this devastating ordeal.

[sources:dailymail]