A woman and her dog experienced a terrifying ordeal after stepping into quicksand on Glenelg North beach in South Australia. Sarah Darbyshire was filming her walk with her Maltese dog, Mr Bean, when she suddenly found herself sinking rapidly. Initially amused, she soon realised the danger as the sand pulled her down. 'I couldn't believe how quick I went down. Pulling one leg out, you just went in deeper,' she said.
Darbyshire managed to escape without assistance, but another woman, Madz June, required four police officers and five firefighters to rescue her from the same spot. June described the sensation as feeling her legs 'vacuum sealed into a bag' after stepping over a stream. With the tide coming in, she called for help after 10 to 15 minutes.
Quicksand, a mixture of sand, water, and clay, traps victims by compacting around their legs. Dr Benjy Marks, a civil engineering expert from the University of Sydney, explained that quicksand is rare outside of earthquake zones, often caused by water welling up through sand. He noted that contrary to movie depictions, people do not sink entirely, as sand is denser than the human body, typically only sinking to waist depth.
The real danger lies in being trapped as the tide rises, which nearly happened to June. Experts advise staying calm and either swimming out on one's back or slowly rotating legs to reintroduce water and loosen the sand. Holdfast Bay council has since erected warning signs at the beach.
