happened too fast. >> meena screams and shakes his head side to side to keep sand off his face.a pocket to help him breathe. >> he created just enough pocket to have enough air to survive. that's what gave us that time to find him and rescue him. >> as he begins to feel the weight of the sand, meena passes out which likely helps keep him alive while everyone on the surface searches for him. >> matt had been down there screaming trying to move his head and pump his arms, one he could have lost that void space. it could have been collapsed in on him. and two, he would have been using up the precious oxygen that was in there. >> meena is carted away in an ambulance and only later do rescuers understand he escapes without injury. >> it's extremely remarkable that he didn't at least have some broken ribs or a broken skull or it didn't -- the sheer weight of it crush his chest cavity. >> even meena can't believe his luck. >> i was asking in the hospital if there was sand in my lungs. perfectly healthy. my oxygen levels were normal. >> from now on, he'll follow the life guards' advice.

matt meena is trapped underneath six feet of sand when the hole he's digging collapses on him.life guards including captain mike helfide rush to his aid. >> when i first came on scene, we had two life guards digging and then four or five, matt's cousins and friends that he was with. at that point we started getting more volunteers. >> helfide organize's the group into three circles surrounding the spot where meena was last seen. >> trying to locate the patient. the second ring is to take the sand from the rescuers, move it further out. the third ring, their job is to take the sand and push it further out. >> as word ripples out that a teenager is trapped, bystanders start converging on the scene and the crowd grows. >> i just saw a whole row of moms just on their hands and knees just digging as if it were their own child. we had guys in business suits who had seen the commotion and come down. girls who were just hanging out on the beach are all there. >> people are using shovels, buckets, fins, their bare hands. whatever they can grab to dig. >> i saw one person take a pots pla