Australian Man, 25, Fighting For Life After Being Buried Alive On Beach

An Australian man, 25-year-old Josh Taylor, is fighting for his life in the hospital after being buried by sand at a popular beach. The incident occurred on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, where Mr Taylor fell into a hole and was covered in sand. Paramedics and an RACQ Life flight rescue helicopter crew were called to assist him.

A witness named Nathan told 7News that Mr Taylor stumbled into a pit, which had been dug to cook a pig. "He stood up off the chair; the sand had given away a little bit underneath him," he said. "He stumbled back. He'd put his arms out to obviously break the fall, he's continued going down and knocked sand as he's put his arms out."

"He was so deep in the hole that you could not see him, his feet unless you were standing on top of the hole."

Nathan shared that the efforts to extricate Mr. Taylor from the pit were immense. "There were 15 fully grown men on the end of this rope, and he still would not budge."

"That's when the paramedic was like, pull him this way … the suction gave way and he popped out.

"I'm praying that he pulls through this."

Nathan further shared that he was leaving the beach when a group of men ran over yelling for help to rescue their friend from under the sand. When he arrived at the scene, Mr Taylor's friends and family were desperately digging to free him, News.com.au reported.

"I realized 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," he added.

"All of his family were screaming at us, telling us to help, telling us to get a rope so we could pull him out. It was pretty gruesome," he said.

After several minutes, the man finally burst through the surface of the sand, but the force of being pulled out caused him further injury.

"It was pretty gnarly when he popped out. I threw up," Nathan said.

"He broke. The suction, the force of everyone pulling."

When Mr. Taylor was pulled out, he had no pulse, and rangers began performing CPR before the paramedics arrived.

Mr. Taylor was airlifted to Princess Alexandra Hospital in critical condition for further treatment.

It is understood it took 45 minutes before the man's pulse returned.

QAS Paramedic Peter Batt praised the actions of the people who helped out.

"The fact that they have got a return of pulse on this young man after an extended period of CPR is evidence that good CPR was being done; it's a credit to those people who got in and helped with their first aid," he said.

Doctors are now working to save the man's life.