I am so sorry for the loss of this child. My sincere condolences and prayers for this family. God bless you all!!

Very sorry to hear this It is so important to be attentive to what are children are doing at all times

How tragic. There should be some way for the beach patrol/lifeguards/parents/police and other beach goers to help prevent this kind of terrible accident in the future. Lets hope the towns/police/beach patrol initiate that dialogue as soon as possible.

It's not the life guard or police responsibility for a kid digging in the sand. It's the parents that should have stopped it. That crazy to think that a 12 year old wouldn't have been taught that sand can cause suffocation

And it's crazy that you have not been taught appropriate and compassion during a time of tragedy Annmarie. Condolences to this child's family and mother.

Agreed Raylin, sad people always want to blame someone, it was a horrible accident. Hug your family and say a prayer for the family.

I agree with Annmarie. I said the same thing when I first heard about this. "WHERE WERE THE PARENTS???" It is NOT the lifeguards responsibility to watch your kid as he plays in the sand. Didn't his parents see what he was doing and know the danger of the shifting sands. How tragic. This was an unnecessary preventable death!

They just lost their child!!! RIP

You people are heartless!!! It was a freak accident and could happen to anyone. Be careful how you judge people, you don't want to find yourself in a similar situation.
My heartfelt prayers and compassion for the family.

My heart hurts for this unfortunate young man and his family. May he rest in peace and may peace find its way to his family. You are not alone.

very sad a young life lost make sure your children understand all of the dangers of the beach and ocean my heart goes out to the family

at this time we should all have a little compassion for the family and what they are going threw. A innocent life was taken by accident no one could predict this could happen. May g-d bless them all. may he rest in peace.,and may no one point fingers at anyone. bklyn ny

I'm really upset and hurt by such a horrible tragedy. No one should see such a day

The most horrible tragic accident is the loss of a child. Teach your kids that tunnels in sand and snow are so very dangerous. The worst thing that can happen to a parent im sure. I am sorry for your loss

Very sad. My sympathies to the family.

Horrifying....so sorry for the victim and family.

It was a tragic accident. I feel for the family. But under no circumstance should lifeguards be responsible for this. If the lifeguards are monitoring the sand, they aren't watching the ocean. Let them focus on the water.

What is with you people !! so heartless a mother just lost her child for god sakes!! who r any of you to judge . Things happen this was a freak accident ! I know these people are there a great family . It was no ones fault everything is in gods hands . So for all u people who don't have anything nice to say please keep your comments to yourself !!

prayers to the family...to the little brother who just wanted to play with his older brother...prayers to all those who tried to help save this little boy, on the beach and in the hospital...and prayers to the people who so easily judge...

Castles made of sand fade into the sea, eventually....

It is a shame that our children cannot do all of the things that we use to do...build sandcastles or tunnels, snow forts, bike ride with their friends without us tracking their every move. These kids were trying to have innocent fun which is so unheard of anymore in this world we live in now ....This is heartbreaking and my sincere condolonces to the family. I can't imagine their pain and never hope to....People should watch their words and let a family grieve in peace...

People are always trying to put the blame on someone whenever something happens

This story in particular is so heartbreaking. Like I told my 12 year old son, that family packed up their boogie boards, lunch and beach towels and headed to the ocean that morning with never a thought to any danger. How many of us live on the beach all summer and forget the dangers of the riptides, surfboards with out of control surfers riding RIGHT NEAR the young swimmers and most deadly of all.....the sand castle/tunnel. My heart bleeds for this poor family who never thought that their day at the beach would end like this.

Look . lets break this down.
1) There is a rule under chapter 9 "Communication's in the 2012 New jersey State life guard Administration Document that states . the following

B. Superintendent and lifeguard officer must meet promptly to report, discuss and resolve:
1. A problem with a lifeguard that may require disciplinary action.
2. A serious incident in the bathing area or on the beach.
3. A safety hazard on the beach or in the bathing area.
This includes beach and bathing area if I reasd this correctly

When I was younger and LIVED on teh long branch beaches (BATH AVE)
Each Guard station had THREE Guards,Two for the Bathing Area and one for the beach area. tehy constantly had peopel getting out of unprotected beaches (either side of jettys. Off teh Jettys if you werent fishing ..THEY WOULD COME OVER WITH SHOVELS AND FILL UP HOLES THAT HAD GOTTEN DUG THAT WERE DEEMED SAFETY HAZARDS. We even got repremanded by Skip. they went out of there way to explain hazards on the beach. I have found memories of learning these things and after a while you actually started to help them out by passing on this information to others . Many times we would wlak over to parents and say HEY that to deep or too big GET OUT it can collapse on you .

2) Parents .. Need to be more vigilent these days.
I feel extremly bad for this woman and her huisband and family . I would bet regrets will be there for the rerst of there lives. I hope God shows them the way to peace. BUT.......

This was a tragic "ACCIDENT". This family must be suffering immeasuribly right now. Let us keep in mind when we are pointing fingers or should I spell it out for you? The victims family may be reading these articles. Have some manners and compassion. I don't know who these people are and it breaks my heart to read such sad news. Do we really need to make insensitive remarks at this time? You are free to write what you like, but if it were your family or relatives would you really want to read some of these comments? God Bless this family in their time of suffering.

Agree Paul .. Like I said I hope God shows them the way ..

"It takes a smart person to learn from one's OWN mistakes, but it takes a WISE person to learn from the mistakes of OTHERS". So people, please don't let your kids dig so deep in the sand. Several years ago a Monmouth University (then "College") was killed doing the same thing. And, I was at a NJ beach a couple of years ago with my boys, my sister, and her 5 boys. The boys dug a whole so deep that when one of my nephews went in, you couldn't even see the top of his head. I was the ONLY one who was concerned. It took me having to go to an available lifeguard to try and convince them it was dangerous. He told my nephew to get out immediately and for everyone to fill it in. He stood there and watched until it was done. I just recently sent my sister the article about the Oakhurst boy who tragically died. My sister is coming to visit our Mom who lives at the Jersey Shore from the Midwest again in 2 weeks with all 5 boys and we are of course are going to the
beach. Sigh. My youngest son is now 12. You think my sister would know a thing or two about sand considering we grew up at the Shore. We grew up in the same township where that 12 year old died lived. The mom must feel horrible. Bottom line - grab any available authority figure to help save a life. Turns out, I did NOT care that my sis and nephews put me down for getting help. If I had just stood and said nothing and then something happened, I would have had to live with that.

Believe it or not the City of Long Branch has an ordinance that deals with digging holes. Maybe it something the lifeguards/special officers should start to enforce. The law is on the book so why not use. Long Branch has a slew of ordinances for their beaches.
http://www.visitlongbranch.com/docs/citycodebook.pdf

City Ordinance 116-5
O. No hole shall be dug in the public bathing beach in such a manner as to leave a depression more than 12 inches deep in the surface of the land.

I do not believe that anyone is insensitive in this tragedy. I believe that people are upset because this was not, as some people have written, an accident. It could have been prevented if someone in charge was paying attention and stopped this child from digging this dangerous deep tunnel. Heartfelt sympathy for this child and his family.

Shore thing is absolutely right. Apparently this happens every year -- kids being buried in the sand due to tunnels. The wet sand is too heavy often times to dig them out. It's a terrible, awful thing that happened to this boy & his family. I have young children and have definitely learned from this tragedy. My heart so goes out to this family.

I'm sitting here reading this as I'm on family vacation at the beach. How absolutely horrific. Honestly in this situation it is no one's "fault". Every single parent has taken their eyes off their school age child at some point. Any of those times could have resulted in a tragic life altering accident. Preventable or not. Accident. Dont judge because no parent is perfect and clearly she didn't hold her son under the sand while he suffocated. Someone said that it's not an accident because it was preventable. Preventable or not, when something happens and it resulted in something that was not done "on purpose"...it's an accident. Just remember next time your kids are outside and your reading a magazine or your sunbathing while your kids play or you text back a friend, your eyes are off your child just as much as hers were.