Beach memorial for girl, 9, killed in sand collapse

A small memorial was growing Saturday for a 9-year-old Sandy girl who died after a hole she was digging on a Lincoln City beach collapsed.

KGW reports that on Friday afternoon, Isabel Grace Franks was digging a three to five-foot hole in the sand a few yards from the ocean near the Seagull Motel on Northwest Harbor Avenue, according to the North Lincoln Fire Department.

The sand apparently collapsed on top of the child just before 5:15 p.m. and she was buried for about five minutes, witnesses said.

When fire crews and police arrived on the scene, family and bystanders were trying desperately to dig her out.

They helped get Isabel out of the sand and a nurse on scene immediately administered CPR. Medics rushed her to Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital, but she wasn’t breathing, and was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Fire officials said was from Sandy, and was visiting Lincoln City with her parents, along with other family and friends.