They spoke out about their daughter, who died while digging a hole on a Florida beach when she was seven years old.
Sloan Mattingly’s parents are speaking out weeks after their daughter died after getting stuck in a breached sand hole at the beach.
On February 20, T. Swift’s 7-year-old boyfriend and her family were at the beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea when tragedy struck. Jason and Therese Mattingly say that Sloan and her brother were looking for seashells in the sand when all of a sudden, a hole appeared and buried both of the children alive.
Jason and Therese told Good Morning America that they were right there when the tragedy happened and started digging right away to save their children’s lives.
Jason said of that moment, “It was kind of a blur. Maybe that’s my mind protecting me, but it just happened so fast.” “I thought I had her in my arms, but the sand was too heavy.”
Therese also said that everything happened very quickly. “The fact that we were right there didn’t matter. There was only a hole, and then nothing. After that, it’s just chaos and horror.”
Before help arrived, the kids were buried several feet below the surface of the sand. The first person taken out was their son Maddix. The next was Sloan.
GMA says Sloan had been buried for more than 15 minutes before she was found. For Jason and Therese, though, time stopped.
Sloan wasn’t responding, so she was taken to a nearby hospital and later died there. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out in our favor,” Jason said after thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and other people on the beach that day for their hard work.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Therese told the other people on the beach that day. “You saw how horrible it was.”
Now, Therese hopes that by telling Sloan’s sad story, more families will be more aware of the other, less obvious risks that come with going to the beach.
“When you go to the beach, you think about how to stay safe in the water, but this never came to mind for me.” And now that I look at it, it’s like, “Of course.” That’s where it’s really annoying.”
They hope that Sloan’s story will make beach towns put up more signs warning people about the dangers of sinkholes. He also says, “Strangers, if you see something dangerous, be brave and tell someone.”
People magazine says that sand holes should be “no deeper than the knee of the shortest person digging the hole.”
During this very sad time, our thoughts and prayers are with the Mattingly family.