Woman swallowed by quicksand beach: Woman sunk into hole in split second while enjoying stroll with husband on popular beach
A woman was swallowed by quicksand while enjoying a beach stroll with her husband
A woman was swallowed by quicksand while enjoying a walk with her husband along a popular beach in coastal Maine. The incident occurred when the woman was walking along the water's edge at Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg, located in the Portland metropolitan area, on 1 June.
Jamie Acord suddenly sunk to her hips in a split second and let out a stunned scream as the high tide started creeping in. Acord told her husband Patrick: “I can't get out!”.
Within seconds Patrick came to her rescue, pulling her from the sand trap. The couple then watched the hole fill back up with sand and disappear.
Acord told WCSH-TV: “I just dropped like a rock. Patrick said I was there and then the next minute I wasn't.” She added that she “couldn't feel the bottom” or “find my footing” as the sand continued to pull her down.
She decided to share her experience online as a warning to others. Acord posted on Facebook: “The state Park Rangers stated they have had some reports of the sand being like quick sand. I fell in up to my hips, that's 2.5 feet. My feet are scratched up as are my knees probably from rocks or sticks in the hole. No sooner did Patrick pull me out did the hole disappear.”
She added: “Had I been a small child I would have disappeared into the hole. I'm not kidding they would have been sucked in.”
According to Jim Britt, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, people caught in supersaturated sand will float. He said: "People hear the word quicksand [and] they think jungle movie. The reality with this supersaturated sand is you're not going to go under”. However, getting trapped in quicksand can lead to drowning as tides come in or river levels rise.