Boy swallowed by sand to make TV appearance

On Sunday, Wendy Scott wasn’t sure her 13-year-old son was going to live as she frantically clawed at a pile of sand that had swallowed him up. But by Wednesday, Scott and her son were happily on their way to New York City to be featured Thursday morning on NBC’s “Today” show, along with one of the rescuers who helped save his life.

“It’s crazy,” Wendy Scott said of all the media attention. “I still have my moments, but he’s fine.”

Dylan Scott had dug a five-foot hole in the sand at 8th Street on the Balboa Peninsula when the walls caved in on him and he was buried alive. Dylan’s mother and fellow beachgoers scrambled to dig him out, reaching the top of his head several times only to have the sand continue to refill the hole. When he was finally pulled out, he was unconscious and not breathing.

Lifeguards revived Dylan with oxygen and he was released from the hospital three hours later without further health complications.

The Scott family, who have never been to New York City, flew out Wednesday. They are scheduled to appear on the program at 7:30 a.m., said “Today” show producer Rachel Burstein.

“He think it’s cool. He thinks he a star now,” Wendy Scott said in a telephone interview about her son’s eagerness to appear on TV.

Producers also arranged for Newport Beach Lifeguard Mike Nichols to join the family on television. Nichols was patrolling the sand that day in his lifeguard truck when he was flagged down.

“It was by far the most intense situation I’ve been in, in lifeguarding or anything else,” Nichols said Wednesday in a telephone interview from his New York City hotel room. “Compared to other rescues, it was nothing.”

When he and another lifeguard arrived, several people were already digging, and by the time the boy was rescued, there were several rows of people digging together, Nichols said. Nichols called for backup, and one of the tower guards gave the boy oxygen.

The rescue was a group effort and Nichols said he didn’t understand why he was the only one chosen to be on the television show.

“There were so many of us there, I thought it was kind of weird they were picking me,” Nichols said.

Newport Beach resident Tom Tupman was at the beach and saw Dylan’s mom frantically looking for her son. He quickly organized other beachgoers to help, including some junior lifeguards and Newport Harbor Yacht Club sailors, Tupman said.

“We all start digging — we just start ripping the sand,” Tupman said.

Off-duty Newport Beach lifeguard Andrew Belden was bodysurfing with his friend when he spotted the trouble on the beach. They swam in and joined others in digging.

“The kid would have been dead if it weren’t for the help of the bystanders first,” said Belden, 20.

When the boy started to wake up after getting oxygen, beachgoers started clapping, Belden said.

Nichols has never been to New York City, and like the Scotts this will be his first time interviewed on live television.

“I’m just nervous and excited,” Nichols said.

For him it will a quick trip. He has to get back to work and will be returning to Orange County on Thursday night.