Is this a Darwin award I see

[Inkubus]

Could any of you Aussie beach types help me parse this story:

Josh Taylor was at a beach campground on Queensland's Bribie Island on Saturday when he fell into a hole that had been reportedly dug to roast a pig...

The Courier Mail reported it took about 15 people to pull him free, *
* before wildlife rangers performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived at the scene. Link

Wait, theirs more:

Unfortunately, the injuries he received were too severe for him to overcome,"*
the family statement added, while also thanking hospital staff for their efforts.

The 'injuries' has me stumped so I went raking about:

Mr Taylor fell headfirst into a deep 1.5 metre hole* at the beach - understood to have been dug up for roasting a pig - and quickly became trapped beneath shifting sands. Link

I thought this; and it's the deepest barbie hole I can find:



Was how it was done?

Something well dodgy about these goings on. He dug a five foot hole in beach sand?



*My bold.

[airportkid]

5 ft deep is 7th grader height.  Jonathan Swift did famously suggest putting kids on the barbie would solve numerous social problems.  But Swift was Irish - no Aussie is gonna pay attention to an Irishman.  Especially a dead one.  Especially a dead sarcastic one.

So whence a 5 ft deep hole in sand?  Like you, I'm not sold it was intended as an oven.  Maybe one of those smaller sized Australian tarantulas only 45 feet across dug the hole for a nest and then went off to catch an SUV full of tourists for dinner, leaving the hole unattended.

Weird continent, down there where nobody falls off the earth even though upside down.

[Dancefortwo]

I'm not Australian but my husband is from South Carolina and his family roasts pig this way all the time.  It's where the expression "pit barbecue" comes from.  You dig a pit in the sand at the beach, fill it with coals and wood, light it and then put the pig in it (it's covered with aluminum foil of course) fill the sand back up over the pig and leave it overnight to cook.  Hubby's family does this at family reunions at the beach but they have to get permission from the beach authorities, whoever that is.  I'm not sure.

The next day you dig up the pig and it's fucking amazing.  I feel sorry for the pig but, damn, it's the most amazing tasting stuff, like ever!

[pattylt]

I'm not Australian but my husband is from South Carolina and his family roasts pig this way all the time.  It's where the expression "pit barbecue" comes from.  You dig a pit in the sand at the beach, fill it with coals and wood, light it and then put the pig in it (it's covered with aluminum foil of course) fill the sand back up over the pig and leave it overnight to cook.  Hubby's family does this at family reunions at the beach but they have to get permission from the beach authorities, whoever that is.  I'm not sure.

The next day you dig up the pig and it's fucking amazing.  I feel sorry for the pig but, damn, it's the most amazing tasting stuff, like ever!

We roasted lobsters on the beach in Florida in a very similar way!  Not overnight…just until you hear them pop.  They are also amazing this way…especially if someone remembered to bring butter.

[Dancefortwo]

I'm not Australian but my husband is from South Carolina and his family roasts pig this way all the time.  It's where the expression "pit barbecue" comes from.  You dig a pit in the sand at the beach, fill it with coals and wood, light it and then put the pig in it (it's covered with aluminum foil of course) fill the sand back up over the pig and leave it overnight to cook.  Hubby's family does this at family reunions at the beach but they have to get permission from the beach authorities, whoever that is.  I'm not sure.

The next day you dig up the pig and it's fucking amazing.  I feel sorry for the pig but, damn, it's the most amazing tasting stuff, like ever!

We roasted lobsters on the beach in Florida in a very similar way!  Not overnight…just until you hear them pop.  They are also amazing this way…especially if someone remembered to bring butter.

Yes, this is a very old method of cooking.  Indigenous peoples around the world have been doing it for thousands of years.  They could cook food underground and not worry about animals hauling it off into the woods.

 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_barbecue#California

[brewerb]

In my youth we use to lay sewage/storm drain pipe at around that depth. When digging the trench, the walls were always angled out or fortified with 3/4in plywood to avoid cave ins. It didn't always work and some of us got buried up to the knees and had to be dug out.

It's conceivable that the hole was dug in moist sand, he fell in head first, prone,.... and got buried from a wall slide, enough to cover his head and chest and heavy enough that people couldn't easily pull him up and out. That's my best guess.

[Cavebear]

I'm not Australian but my husband is from South Carolina and his family roasts pig this way all the time.  It's where the expression "pit barbecue" comes from.  You dig a pit in the sand at the beach, fill it with coals and wood, light it and then put the pig in it (it's covered with aluminum foil of course) fill the sand back up over the pig and leave it overnight to cook.  Hubby's family does this at family reunions at the beach but they have to get permission from the beach authorities, whoever that is.  I'm not sure.

The next day you dig up the pig and it's fucking amazing.  I feel sorry for the pig but, damn, it's the most amazing tasting stuff, like ever!

We will assume the pig was dead, so you don't have to feel too sorry for it... That's practically why they exist. LOL!

But "barbeque" has some uncertain possible origins. I've read over the years that one possibility involves masking bacon over a fire. Another is about some Native American word about pit cooking whole animals. Sorry, I'm feeling too lazy to look up references and links. Hey. its 6:30 AM and I'm going to bed...