Two best friends, both 14 years old, died after a sand tunnel they built collapsed on top of them in Inverness, Florida. George Watts and Derrick Hubbard Jr., who went by DJ, had spent two weeks digging the tunnel at Sportsman Park. On January 11, the tunnel suddenly caved in and trapped both boys under several feet of sand.
The boys were in eighth grade at Inverness Middle School and had known each other their whole lives. They were playing in what people call sugar sand, which is very fine and powdery. This type of sand is dangerous because it can fall apart easily. The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office said the boys had dug down about four to five feet deep. That Sunday morning, George went home quickly to get his cell phone before heading back to the park to keep working on the tunnel with DJ.
