Boy Dies after Accident at Pictured Rocks NL

Date: August 16, 2006
Contact: Larry Hach, 906-387-2607

An 11-year old boy died Tuesday evening, August 15, after an accident in which he was buried in one to two feet of sand for over 20 minutes at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, park officials reported this morning.

“As we understand it at this point,” Park Superintendent Jim Northup said, “the boy, playing with a group of other children, was apparently trapped after a tunnel they had dug into the face of the Grand Sable Dunes near the mouth of Sable Creek collapsed and buried the boy in sand.”

According to eye-witnesses, the boy was rescued by other companions and an adult family friend who was nearby and CPR was initiated.

Burt Township Emergency Medical Services and Luce County Advanced Life Support were notified and transported the boy to the Helen Newberry Joy Hospital. The Burt Township Fire Department also assisted with carrying the boy from the site of the accident to the waiting ambulance at the Sable Falls parking lot. State Troopers, also summoned to the scene, notified the boy’s mother who was staying in a cabin in Grand Marais. The boy was declared dead at 8:24 p.m. The accident remains under investigation by the National Park Service.

The child was later identified as Lloyd Andrew Kopack of Oak Park, Michigan.

“The boy’s family requested that the media respect their privacy following this tragic loss,” stated Northup. "We are deeply saddened by this tragic accident, and offer our sincere condolences to the boy’s family.”