A teenage boy was rescued after getting buried alive when a tunnel he was digging collapsed on him.

The 13-year-old was found hardly breathing and in an "awful state" after getting stuck on the Joss Bay beach, near Broadstairs, yesterday afternoon.

A member of the public spotted he wasn't moving and pulled his legs to get him out.

Lifeguard Dave Melmoth, from Surf Life Saving, rushed to the boy's aid.

He said: "The lad was tunneling under the sand.

"He was with his parents and they weren't really paying attention and the tunnel collapsed on him.

"A member of the public realised he had been in there a while and not moving for five minutes.

"He was hardly breathing and he was in an awful, awful state.

"We did the best we could until paramedics got there but ultimately by the time he left he was speaking and he left in a good way."

Lifeguards looked after the boy until the air ambulance arrived and the boy was flown the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford for further observations.

Mr Melmouth added: "He was just going to have observations but it was very, very close to being the other way.

"This is right at the beginning of the summer season and we are trying to reinforce that sand is fun but it weighs a ton.

"If you are digging holes in the sand it shouldn't be anything deeper than waist height.

"He was lucky in a sense that he could be pulled out but if he had dug a hole the chances are we couldn't have got him out."

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