Witness Recalls 'Miracle' Of Belmar Rescue Of Boy Trapped In Sand

BELMAR – At one point, as people yelled, "Shovels! Get shovels!" all people could see was a hand popping up from the beach sand.

Jeff Danko said he witnessed a miracle at the Jersey Shore. But he says if he hadn't witnessed it for myself, he's not sure if he or anybody else would believe it.

It was unbelievable, he said, that an 8-year-old boy somehow survived after he was fully buried for at least 15 minutes at the Belmar beach.

Even more so, Danko was comforted by "the humanity, the teamwork, the prayer. It was 15 minutes without division, race, politics, religion, pandemic . . . just this precious life of a child."

"Above all else, this child's life was the only thing that mattered for more the 100-plus people that stood by."

The day, July 18th, started when Danko and Daniel Zagazeta drove to Asbury Park, only to be turned away since a very limited number of day passes can be purchased.

So they went to Belmar beach. "A perfect beach day – 95 degrees, blue skies, and cool ocean water," he said.

"We were there for about two hours; catching up, swimming, relaxing, commenting on people's adherence to the social distancing, enjoying what felt like a normal summer day," he said.

What they didn't know was that an 8-year-old boy would soon become trapped in an 8-foot hole at the Belmar beach.

The incident happened at approximately 1:54 p.m. when the Belmar Police Department responded to the 8th Avenue beach on a report of a boy entrapped in a hole that was dug in the sand, police said.

The sides of the hole caved in and the boy was no longer visible, police said.

"'Help!" Danko and Zagazeta heard someone call out, maybe 15 feet behind them, soon after they arrived.

Then came more.

"Help!"

"Call 911!"

"Lifeguards!"

Danko and Zagazeta both jumped up to help, while at the same time trying to figure out what is happening.

They headed towards a mound of sand and, as they got closer, they saw two young men digging frantically while standing in a hole.

Then two more men jumped in, digging as fast as they could around a child's hand and wrist that were barely sticking up above the sand.

"As I’m about to jump in, two other guys dive in and the small hand suddenly slips deeper into the ground," Dank said.

"Shovels! Get shovels!" yell the lifeguards, who were now all in the hole, digging.

At that point, more than 5 minutes had passed and no one could figure out where or how deep into the Earth this child was, Danko said.

The crowd got larger by the second, as people were digging frantically in all areas next to the hole, trying to tunnel in, Danko said.

"Allah, please not my son! Please not my son!" Danko said he heard, apparently the voice of the boy's father running into the ocean and dropping to his knees, begging God for his son's life.

His mother was looking down on the lifeguards digging, screaming hysterically by the second, Danko said.

The police soon arrived at the scene with shovels, clearing the area, pushing back a crowd of now more than 100 people, while getting all the lifeguards out of the hole.

There was still barely any sign of this child, Danko said. It had been over 10 minutes.

"I stand completely frozen," Danko said, describing how he felt and acted at the time." Two girls nearby kneel to pray. Daniel wishes to go because he just can’t bare seeing the image of a child pulled from the ground.

"It's now been over 12 minutes."

Soon, a police officer, holding on the ankles of another policeman, made contact with the boy.

"Water, get water" was heard, coming from the police and paramedics.

They had found him. They carefully secured and pulled him out of the ground. "He's still breathing" someone yells.

By then, it had been 15 minutes, Danko said. Most people were either gasping, crying, hysterical, frozen, praying or silent.

Finally, as the boy was being carried to the ambulance, he lifted his head, looking on toward the crowd.

When the public saw that he was conscious and responsive, everyone began to clap and cheer loudly for the boy, his family, the lifeguards, the police and the paramedics, Danko said.

"This was the first miracle that I've experienced. I'll never know how this child survived being submerged in sand and water for more than 15 minutes," Danko said.