South Haven – A 12-year-old boy scout died after being buried in a sand dune near a Southwestern Michigan state park, police said.

Gage Wilson, of Portage, died Saturday after diving into a sand dune during a Scout outing on a beach just north of Van Buren National Park, according to a statement from the South Haven Police Department.

Police said two boys who were with Gage did not notice his disappearance for 30 minutes. At one point, Gage was found and somebody dialed 911.

An officer arrived and found Scout leaders performing CPR, South Haven Police Chief Natalie Thompson said in the statement.

"The police officer and an emergency services volunteer from the South Haven area have taken charge of CPR until another officer arrives." 39, an AED (Automated External Defibrillator), "Thompson said. "Early resuscitation efforts helped to establish a pulse for the victim.

"Efforts were then made on difficult terrain, including dunes, trails and water to transport the victim to a waiting ambulance," Thompson said. "The ambulance then transported the victim to an Air Care helicopter waiting in a nearby open landing area on the Blue Star Highway."

Gage was airlifted to a hospital in the Kalamazoo area, where he died later, Thompson said.

"This incident is still under investigation, but it seems to be a tragic accident," Thompson said.

The Michigan Scouts Council of the Michigan (Crossroads Council) issued a statement in which he stated: "This is a very difficult time for our scout family."

In a 2007 letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Bradley Maron of Harvard Medical School, sand dune deaths are more common on beaches than shark attacks.

"As a general rule, the victims are completely immersed in the sand when the walls of the hole have collapsed unexpectedly, leaving virtually no trace of the hole or location of the victim," wrote Maron.

Over the years, many people have been killed or injured in the country's sand dunes.

• Last year, Bryan Skilinski of New York died in the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Reserve in Colorado.

• In 2016, Eoin Corcoran, 14, died playing in the sand dunes of St Brelade, New Jersey. He was digging a tunnel with a friend when he collapsed on him.

Nathan Woessner, 6, was injured in 2013 after being trapped under 11 feet of sand in the Mount Baldy Dune, in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, along Lake Michigan.

• In 2001, Matthew Gauruder, 17, played football with friends at a beach party in Westerly, Rhode Island, when he fell back into an eight-foot-deep hole.

According to Pure Michigan, the state has the largest concentration of freshwater dunes in the world, with 300,000 acres of dunes.

according to According to a 2015 study by Erin Argyilan, a geologist at Indiana University Northwest, some holes in sand dunes are caused by a phenomenon called "decomposing dune fireplaces".

"We suggest that in the dune, parts of decaying trees collapse and gradually fill up and that the open holes are temporarily stabilized by the calcium carbonate-rich cement," wrote Argyilan in the study. "In addition, holes may exist on the surface without being detected, covered with a thin veneer of sand."

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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