Source: NJ.com
Levi Caverly, 18, and his 17-year-old sister were digging a deep hole in the sand with Frisbees shortly after 4 p.m. near Seaview Road and Chadwick Beach, which is in the Ocean Beach III section of the barrier island, when the hole collapsed and the sand fell in on them, police said.
When officers arrived, they discovered the teens had dug a hole and gotten down to about 10 feet when the walls collapsed and trapped both of them.
Levi’s sister was rescued and treated for minor injuries. First-responders from Toms River and neighboring towns worked for hours to rescue Levi, but he died at the beach. His body was recovered about 7 p.m.
“Physically, my daughter is OK. She’s helping drive us home right now,” her mother Angela Caverly said. The family came to New Jersey from Maine,and had rented a house in Toms River so they could be close to the beach. The family had spent most of the afternoon on the beach before the accident occurred, she said.
“This was our first time (in Toms River). We came to try to have a family vacation,” Angela Caverly said, adding that she does not regret coming to New Jersey. “It is what it is. You can’t change it.”
In a statement, Toms River Mayor Maurice B. “Mo” Hill said he that lifeguards typically stop people from digging deep holes but the incident occurred “off-season” when lifeguards are not working.
Levi Caverly, who had three siblings, had recently completed a home-school program “He was trying to learn computer coding, self-taught. He loved music and was playing drums in a praise band at our church,” his mother said. “We did home school and (2021) was his last year.”
Emergency crews from Toms River, Lavalette, Seaside Heights, and the Ocean County sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices responded to the beach, police said.