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MinneapolisMatt

(1,550 posts)
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 09:53 PM Apr 2013

Father sobs after kids buried in collapse

STANLEY, North Carolina (AP) — A father tearfully begged authorities to hurry to his house to rescue his daughter and her cousin, who were buried when the walls of a 24-foot (7.3-meter) deep pit he dug on his property collapsed.

-snip-

After the bodies were recovered, sheriff's deputies removed firearms and a marijuana plant from Arwood's mobile home. Arwood is a felon who is not allowed to have guns. He was convicted in 2003 for possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.

The father had been digging with a backhoe on the site Sunday, Sheriff David Carpenter said. Investigators described the pit as 20 feet by 20 feet (6 meters by 6 meters) with a sloped entrance leading down to the 24-foot (7.3-meter) bottom. The children were at the bottom of the pit retrieving a child-sized pickaxe when the walls fell in on them, Carpenter said.

The sheriff would not say what Arwood was building or whether he had any professional help. He did say that investigators would be looking into reports from neighbors that Arwood had been building some sort of protective bunker.

-snip-

Chelsea said Arwood told her that he was building the structure to "protect his family" - it was going to be a bunker.

"It's so sad," she said.

More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/08/kids-buried-construction-collapse/2065263/

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JHB

(37,133 posts)
14. Infrared cameras?
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 05:47 AM
Apr 2013

Would a "basement" buried that deep mask the heat signature from sunlamps for hydroponics?

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
4. Interesting when he needed help he call government help. If government interfers so much I guess
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 10:05 PM
Apr 2013

Does not count when you want them around. You don't FEMA until there is an emergency.

DollarBillHines

(1,922 posts)
5. Fucking tool
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 10:08 PM
Apr 2013

He should be in jail.

This is no different than a drunk driver mowing down a couple of kids.

One guess which cable channel that this guy lived through.

Whaddya ya wanna bet there was some meth in the picture?

 

Loudly

(2,436 posts)
7. When I was 13, I had a friend who was buried alive in a dug pit he was exploring for adventure.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 10:12 PM
Apr 2013

A tremendous hole in the landscape is a magnet for children.

Politics and purpose of the pit aside, I express sorrowful sympathy for the kids and their families.

 

Arugula Latte

(50,566 posts)
8. Some grandkids of people on our street died when the giant hole they dug at the beach collapsed.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 10:15 PM
Apr 2013

Horrible, horrible deaths.

 

Arugula Latte

(50,566 posts)
10. I think the parents were nearby, but not right there watching.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 11:42 PM
Apr 2013

I think the hole was just over their heads (they were about 8 and 10 or so).

JI7

(89,184 posts)
11. do you know how they died ?
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 04:32 AM
Apr 2013

from impact or suffocation ?

i try to imagine this and it seems like it wouldn't be too hard to dig sand out quickly. but it probably wasn't as i am imagining it to be.

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