A Korean exchange student died in the six-foot-deep pit he was digging after being trapped underneath the sand. The 20-year-old student, named Mingyu “Paul” Sang, could not be saved even though the firefighters did everything they could to get him out of the pit, says the Inquisitr.

Several students from the Masters College headed to the Oxnard Beach Park in Southern California on Wednesday evening to have some fun at the beginning of the new school year. Among them was also the 20-year-old Korean exchange student, Mingyu “Paul” Sang, who started digging a six-foot-deep sand pit with his friends. Unfortunately, the walls of the pit collapsed and the student lost his life after he was caught underneath the sand.

His friends called the emergency services and a team of firefighters arrived on the beach four minutes later. Firefighters worked with all the tools they could find, including hand tools and 5-gallon buckets and shovels, but they were unable to dig the victim out alive. According to sources, the Korean student’s body was found after 15 minutes.

Once Mingyu was taken out of the pit, paramedics performed CPR on him all the way to the Ventura County Medical Center. Despite this, the demise of the man was pronounced at the hospital. Authorities refused to offer other pieces of information because they wanted to notify first the relatives of the victim who live in Korea.

Battalion Chief Darwin Base of the Oxnard Fire Department told the press that there were many students on the beach when they arrived on the scene. Based on their declarations, several students descended into the pit to take pictures of each other. The Korean student was lying back in the pit to take a better picture of his friends when the sand collapsed and covered him completely.

After this incident lifeguards stated that they will do their best to prevent people from digging sand pits on the beach. They have warned them of the possible dangers many times before, but people continue to ignore these messages.