4 skills to escape when buried in sand

Recently in Phong Dien district, Thua Thien Hue province, a 7th grade student was buried in sand and died. It is known that this student and a group of friends were playing on a sand hill when the hill suddenly collapsed and buried him. Although his friends called for help, they could not save him.

A pile of sand is a dangerous object, it can collapse as quickly as running water, so absolutely do not let children play near a pile of sand and especially do not let them climb on top of a pile of sand - Photo: TL

Being buried by sand will endanger the victim's life in two ways.

Firstly, the compaction of the sand around the victim prevents the chest and diaphragm from expanding, making it impossible to breathe (according to research by Christopher Moir, a pediatric trauma surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, USA).

Second, if the sand is fine enough to get deep into the lungs when the victim inhales, the sand will block the oxygen pathway to the alveoli, where the lungs transfer oxygen to the blood. The more sand gets in, the more it blocks air from getting into those alveoli, causing the victim to suffocate.

There are 4 escape skills when buried in sand:

1. Keep calm: Panic will make us lose control and waste a lot of energy.

2. Create a space: Use your hands or any hard object to create a space in front of you, this is extremely important to be able to breathe and call for help. We put our hands in front of our face to create a small space in front of our mouth to be able to breathe. We can make a fist and lightly punch the sand around our face to create a larger space.

If you are lucky enough to have a hard object like a rock or tree in front of you, pull it over to cover your face to push the sand away from your face, creating a small space to breathe.

If nothing happens, use your head to move gently, like nodding, to help the loose sand fall away from your face. Turn your head from side to side to create a small gap. Do not try to stand up immediately as the large mass of sand may collapse back down.

3. Mouth breathing: Place one hand over your mouth and nose to prevent sand from entering, then inhale through your mouth and exhale through your nose like breathing underwater. Breathe slowly and deeply to save oxygen.

4. Move slowly: If possible, try to move by crawling or crawling slowly towards the open space or noise.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/4-ky-nang-thoat-hiem-khi-bi-cat-vui-lap-2024112608173342.htm