Man dies after St. Johns County sand dune collapse

Lee Goggin, the Texas man who was seriously injured when a St. Johns County sand dune collapsed on him Sunday, has died, friends tell CBS Dallas-Fort Worth.

Goggin was not breathing when he was pulled from a sand dune where he had been digging while visiting the beach near the Spyglass Condominiums at 8202 A1A South.

Goggin was taken to Flagler Hospital, where he was reportedly unable to breathe on his own.

Deputies noted that the beach walkover was damaged and had a board nailed across it, advising it was closed. The east end of the board was not connected to the sand and had a three-foot gap at the bottom, according to a St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office report.

Man in critical condition after sand dune collapses on him in St. Augustine A 35-year-old man from Texas had to be taken to the hospital Sunday afternoon after authorities said a tunnel he was digging into the side of a sand dune collapsed.

Goggin's sister, Rachel Burt, told deputies the family had been traveling since Friday night. Burt and her family were traveling with Goggin, a father of three, and his family to Disney World and decided to stop at the beach since they were to check in at a hotel later that afternoon.

After the family walked down the beach with their young children to play and "burn some energy," Goggin started to dig a tunnel in the sand dune near the beach walkover, Burt said.

Deputies said they learned a child, at one point, was in the tunnel but then exited it. Goggin at some point had turned around in the tunnel and started to dig backward when the entire dune collapsed, burying Goggin.

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