Number 8 Nicola Raybone
British woman Nicola Raybone drowned on the Caribbean island of Antigua, in the summer of
2012, after becoming trapped in quicksand. The 33-year-old and her two children had flown out
to a luxury resort on the island, to attend her father’s second marriage. She’d met some friends
for drinks at the bar but, as the others left for dinner, Raybone went for a walk on the beach
to watch the sunset. It was there that Raybone got stuck in quicksand, with light fading and
water levels rising. Even though, in the past, visitors had reported problems with quicksand,
there reportedly were no warning signs on the beach. Family, friends and resort staff launched
a desperate search for the woman after her sandals and phone were discovered in the bar area.
Rescuers heard Raybone screaming but failed to find her in the pitch black darkness.
The tide was rough and high that night. By the time they located her, near the shoreline,
Raybone had already drowned. Number 7 Ryan Osmun & Jessika McNeill
In February of 2019, Ryan Osmun and his girlfriend, Jessika McNeill, were hiking through
an area known as known as the “Subway Route” of Utah’s Zion National Park. The couple had been
using a stick to gage which areas of a riverbed were safe to cross. At some point, as they were
crossing, McNeill fell forward on her hands and knees. She started slowly sinking in quicksand.
34-year-old Osmun told her to stay calm and then helped her get out. However, in doing so, he’d
also gotten stuck and was no longer able to free his right leg. Osmun would later claim it felt
like being trapped in quick-drying concrete. The couple had tried to use various anchoring points,
including McNeill’s own body, but it didn’t work. She was forced to abandon him to hike back
and find cellphone signal so that they could call rescuers. She’d later refer to the decision as the
most difficult she’d ever had to make. McNeill was unsure she’d be able to complete the hike alone
or if she’d see Osmun alive again. After three hours of trekking, McNeill found park rangers
to assist in the rescue efforts. Seven more hours would go by before they were able to locate Osmun.
During this time, he’d started suffering from exposure and muscle damage. Because his leg was in
constant contact with cold water, Osmun believed he’d ultimately require amputation. Fortunately,
it wasn’t the case. It took the rangers two hours of combined work, in conditions of falling snow
and 17-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, to extract Osmun from the quicksand. A snowstorm then forced
the couple and the rangers to camp in the park overnight. The next day, Osmun was airlifted
to a safety and he ultimately recovered. Number 6 Jose Rey Escobedo
On July the 7th of 2015, Texas man Jose Rey Escobedo was reported missing, two days after
he’d left to pick up a prescription and failed to return. On the 8th, local police received a call
concerning a light blue sedan that had been parked under the San Antonio River Bridge, in Goliad
County, for several days. Officers retrieved shoes and glasses from the vehicle, which were later
reported as belonging to 50-year-old Escobedo. According to his family, he would sometimes swim
in the river alone. A helicopter performed an aerial sweep of the area, but found no trace of
him. It was only after the river was searched by boat that Escobedo was found, roughly 350 yards
from where he’d parked his car. His lifeless body was lodged in quicksand, up to the bottom
of his buttocks. A coroner would rule his death as drowning. In the early days of July, the San
Antonio River, upstream from where Escobedo was discovered, rose to 8.3 feet from an average of
5 to 6. It’s believed that he’d gotten trapped in the quicksand and then, unable to break free,
drowned as the water flowed downriver. Number 5 Horses Trapped on Welsh Beach
In late November of 2019, firefighters in South Wales had to rescue two horses
after they’d gotten stuck in quicksand at a beach in Glamorgan. Merthyr Mawr is a wide beach known
for its dune system, which stretches for hundreds of acres and is ranked as the second-highest
in Europe. Claire Healy and her daughter had been riding on the beach. Healy then watched as
her horse started sinking into the ground, unable to break free. Her daughter’s pony followed suit.
Healy had been struggling to save the agitated horses from the quicksand herself,
before rescuers arrived at the scene. In a Facebook post, warning other horse riders about
the dangers, she described the incident as the “worst day ever”. Fortunately, both animals were
successfully extracted and headed for recovery. Number 4 Tragedy at Camber Sands
In the summer of 2016, five Londoners died at Camber Sands, in East Sussex, in an incident
that involved quicksand and a strong tidal flow. The victims were identified as 19-year-old Kenigan
Nathan and his brother Kobi, aged 22, as well as Nitharsan Ravi, Inthushan Sriskantharasa and
Kurushanth Srithavarajah, all in their 20s. On what was reported as the hottest day of the year,
the childhood friends had taken to the beach. They’d headed out to sea to play volleyball
but were caught in a deadly combination of sand and the incoming tide. Kenigan and Inthushan
became trapped underwater after their legs were sucked into a sandbar that effectively acted like
quicksand. The others tried to help them but soon found themselves in difficulty as well.
Those caught in a strong tidal current will often succumb to exhaustion as they try to oppose it.
Panic tends to set in and most will push for the shore directly, instead of the recommended
technique of swimming parallel to it. All members of the group, described as strong swimmers, were
overpowered by the tide. Kurushanth’s lifeless body was the first to be retrieved from the water.
Nitharsan and Kobi, who was the youngest of the group, were brought out afterwards. They both had
faint and fading pulses, as paramedics struggled to revive them, much to the horror of thousands of
beachgoers. As the tide went out, later that evening, the bodies of Kenigan and Inthushan
were found washed up on the shore. In the aftermath, the victims’ families criticized
the administrative authorities for not having lifeguards permanently on duty at Camber Sands.
Number 3 Robbie Tesar In 2011, a man taking part in a
survival expedition, to eastern Utah, spent over a dozen hours trapped in quicksand. 25-year-old
Robbie Tesar, originally from Vermont, was near the Dirty Devil River. He chose to walk over a
sandy area as he attempted to cross from one bank to the other. Within seconds, Tesar started to
sink. Other members of the expedition tried to free him but it was to no avail. The quicksand
contained thick clay which acted “like concrete” holding Tesar firmly in place, rendering him
unable to even move his feet. The hikers activated an emergency alert beacon and a helicopter was
dispatched to their position. Hours went by with Tesar up to his mid-thighs in quicksand.
The river water eventually rose to his waist. Temperatures had dropped to about 40 degrees
Fahrenheit and there were concerns he’d freeze to death. Rescuers arrived at the scene and encircled
Tesar using rafts. Some started digging him out while others held on to his body, to prevent him
from sinking again. At around 1 am, Tesar was freed, after having spent roughly 13 hours in
quicksand. He was treated for cold exposure at a local hospital and later rejoined the expedition.
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Number 2 Abdallah Mohamed As reported by Egypt Independent, in 2020,
security guards from the Rabaa archaeological area alerted the authorities after one of their
colleagues had died in a quicksand incident. The Tal-al Rabaa, or Rabaa Hill, is one of the most
important archeological areas in the Daqahliya Governorate. It covers more than 230 acres and
is home to a plethora of antiquities. The guard, identified as Abdallah Mohamed, was presumably
on a patrol when he fell into a pit of quicksand at the archeological hill. The others were unable
to rescue him and he passed away. According to the media outlet, his body was airlifted from the site
following the removal of massive quantities of sand. Further reports on the accident are scarce.
However, it’s possible Mohamed had succumbed to dry quicksand. The existence of it, from reports
of travellers and entire caravans being swallowed instantly, has historically been questioned.
Dry quicksand was ultimately proven in a laboratory setting but its prevalence in
nature remains unknown. The granular material, which doesn’t contain any water, is arguably
more dangerous than the wet variation. Because of the presence of air, it yields rapidly to
weight meaning that one may actually “drown” in it. Human body density typically prevents
that from happening when people get stuck in the more widespread quicksand variation.
Number 1 Terry Howlett
In 1996, English man Terry Howlett was rescued after spending roughly 11 hours in quicksand,
with sea levels rising up to his chin. 29-year-old Howlett had gone for a walk, at about 10 pm,
at the mudflats of Cote Stones, in Morecambe Bay. Howlett initially got trapped up to his knees.
Overnight, he panicked and, as he repeatedly tried to force his way out, sank deeper, until the mud
reached his waist. At around 7 am, a local farmer heard his desperate screams. A rescue effort was
mounted that included coastguards along with fire, paramedic and police crews. The 8-strong
coastguard team used water pumps to dilute the mud trapping Howlett’s body. They raced against the
tide as the water had eventually started lapping around the man’s chin. By the estimations of team
leader George Crossman, it would’ve taken only an additional 15 minutes for Howlett to drown.
When the man was extracted, he was suffering from severe hypothermia and was so exhausted that he
could barely move. He was flown to a hospital, where doctors were able to stabilize him.
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