The volunteer fire department in Kühlungsborn was called to an unusual operation on Friday: three people were stuck up to their waists in the beach sand.
A family of holidaymakers got stuck in the sand while walking on the beach in Kühlungsborn on Friday. Those affected were at stage 8 in Kühlungsborn-Ost when they couldn’t get any further. The fire department was only able to save the family with special equipment – including a shovel and an ice sled. Maik Garkisch from the Kühlungsborn fire department said on NDR MV Live that the whole operation went very quickly. After around ten minutes, the emergency services freed the people who had sunk in.
Fire department: “Quicksand” was caused by storm surge
According to the fire department, the “quicksand” formed due to the storm surge about a week ago. Helge Arz from the Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde also suspects this. The place was apparently a protected calm water area, in the shadow of waves and surf, where this mixture of sand and mud could collect. According to him, sea levels have fallen in recent days. Arz assumes that this area has only just been exposed, otherwise the water would have drained away quickly. He described the incident as a “chain of unfortunate circumstances” that the walkers were there. According to him, this phenomenon does not occur across the board. Nevertheless, the fire brigade appeals to all beach walkers to be particularly careful at the moment.
Source : Tages Schau
