1 student dead, 2 hurt, 1 missing in rock slide at St. Paul park (updated)

[azurnoir]

Last edited Thu May 23, 2013, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: strib

One fourth grade student is dead and another is missing after a rock slide in Lilydale Regional Park Wednesday afternoon.

St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said students from two fourth grade classes at Peter Hobart Elementary School in St. Louis Park were on a field trip hunting fossils when a hillside gave way at about 1:15 p.m., sending the children tumbling down about 30 feet.

Rescuers struggled to reach the slide area, which was about a quarter mile from a road. Once there, emergency workers worked in waist-deep mud, using shovels and their hands to dig the students out.

“We have one that’s half exposed, another one that’s totally buried,” one emergency worker reported in police scanner audio posted at Minnesota Police Clips. “We have quite a few yards of sand on top of one of them. One of the kids was digging him out.”


Read more: http://www.startribune.com/local/east/208529261.html

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body of second student found this morning

Family members identified the boy whose body was recovered Thursday as 10-year-old Mohamed Fofana. The boy's uncle, Mohamed Bah, fought back tears as he talked to reporters before authorities announced they had found him.

The name of the other child who was killed has not yet been released. One of the rescued children was released from the hospital, and the other remained in serious condition at Regions Hospital.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/23/news/mudslide-boys-body-found

[riverwalker]

1. cliffs before the landside

to give context
http://www.sciencebuzz.org/blog/fossil-hunting-season-lilydale-here

[defacto7]

3. It looks like digging at the base of that cliff

eventually would undermine the stability of the strata above. It does look dangerous.

[azurnoir]

7. more like filling in see comment #6

it explains

[LeftInTX]

4. Quite crumbly for 460 million year old rock next to the Mississippi

Poor kids. I bet they were enjoying themselves thoroughly. It truly was a treasure chest of fossils.

ETA: Reading article again, looks like it's an old quarry which I guess explained the crumbliness

[azurnoir]

6. I think what's under the cliff are the Lilydale caves

which have been filled in for some years now, this was because they were a popular 'party' spot (been there myself in my youth) but there were deaths because they were sandstone caves and collapse was not unheard of, nearly happened to me once luckily we all got out in time

[cyberswede]

2. Damn.

It's like kids can't be safe anywhere.

[azurnoir]

8. This story struck a personal note

my son has been on a similar field trip to the same spot, we still have the rocks and fossils he found and I went to the school the field trip was from for 5th and 6th grade

also see comment #6 about the caves under the hill

[gopiscrap]

5. Yikes

[kickysnana]

9. Update 10pm. They brought in dogs one came back signaling he found nothing..the other

was still looking. The rain has stopped for now and they were using fire hoses to safely remove the sand from the recovery area.

They stated again that a sink hole opened up and the kids fell in and gravel, sand and rocks fell in on top. The first kid out was the one who was digging for the other two. It took them 60 minutes to get the kid buried up to his waist out of the sand and 90 minutes to get the one that was submerged but near the surface.

They interviewed a kid who was standing next to these kids. I really wish I could have given him a hug. I have a grandson that same age.

[azurnoir]

10. thanks for the update

I'm pretty sure what used to be the Lilydale caves (now filled in or at least the entrances are) are under that hill, I used to party in those caves when I was kid way back in the 1970's, they were sandstone caves and it's been raining for a week straight , the whole thing is terrible as I said up thread my kid has been on s field trip to that spot a few years ago

I hope the missing kid is okay

[ReRe]

11. Just a reminder of...

... the fragility of life. Love your people every day, be they friends, family and/or pets.

[azurnoir]

12. + 10000

that something so simple could have turned out like this

[Zoeisright]

13. We've had a ton of rain this spring.

That most likely played a part in the hill collapse.

More:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/05/24/gov-dayton-to-address-community-after-landslide-tragedy/