News 1 child dead, 1 missing in St. Paul, MN landslide

[Scav]

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/22/news/lilydale-rockslide

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Rescuers rushed into waist-deep water Wednesday afternoon to rescue four children trapped in a gravel slide at a St. Paul park. One of the children died, two were rescued and one remains missing, authorities said.
The accident took place during a fourth-grade field trip by students from Peter Hobart Elementary School in St. Louis Park.
"They were walking along, and the earth gave way and they went down," said St. Paul Fire Department spokesperson Steve Zaccard.
The incident was first reported at 1:16 p.m. at Lilydale Regional Park on the city's west side near the Mississippi River.
Firefighters and police officers raced to the scene and dug through the mud with hands and shovels. One firefighter was struck by a rock on the head and was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Zaccard said.
"We've had some unbelievably heroic efforts today on the part of our first responders that have put themselves quite frankly in a very dangerous, very precarious situation in an attempt to rescue the children that were trapped," Coleman said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and to the first responders who continue to deal with the situation."

No good. I grew up near their hometown.

 

[Mojave]

This is too bad. I hope they have good luck finding the last remaining child.

 

[Urwumpe]

We had a similar unlucky event 18 months ago at the island of Rügen, where one of the famous chalk cliffs at Cape Arkona had a land slide, dragging a girl into the ocean. Her corpse was washed ashore some kilometers away after being missing for over one month.

 

[Scav]

Update:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/05/24/st-paul-taps-engineering-firm-in-landslide-probe/

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP/WCCO) — The city of St. Paul says it’s hired a civil engineering firm to examine the site of a gravel slide this week that killed two children.
The children were fourth-graders on a field trip from Peter Hobart Elementary in St. Louis Park. They were exploring a popular fossil area at Lilydale Regional Park when the gravel slide hit them Wednesday. Authorities say persistent rains saturated the soil and contributed to the slide.
The city announced Friday that Northern Technologies Inc. had been retained as part of its investigation. Parks and Recreation Director Mike Hahm said in a news release that the firm had experience evaluating collapses and natural disasters.
Its report is expected to be returned within several weeks.
The city has closed off park’s the fossil area until further notice.