3 confirmed dead from collapsed California cliff

ENCINITAS, Calif. — The day after a bluff collapsed in California, killing three people on the beach below, officials reopened areas of the beach on both sides of the collapse.

Encinitas Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said his agency will post a lifeguard near the collapse zone, and keep an eye on the site at Grandview Beach, north of San Diego.

The captain said the lifeguard tower near the scene was moved away from the area Saturday morning, and that officials have determined that “the area is still active.” He said a geologist assessing the scene was “concerned about the areas to the side of the current failure failing.”

Giles said the bluff failure did not put the homes on top of the cliff in immediate danger.

The poplar surfing beach was closed after the cliff collapsed Friday, sending tons of sandstone onto beachgoers and killing three people.

A 30-foot-long slab of the cliff plunged onto the sand. A television helicopter captured footage of beach chairs, towels, surfboards and beach toys strewn about the sand.

Other beachgoers and lifeguards at a nearby tower scrambled to the towering pile of debris, which was estimated to weigh tens of thousands of pounds, to help dig out victims.

“I saw first-responders, and I saw lifeguards frantically digging people out of the debris,” Jim Pepperdine, who lives nearby, told the San Diego Union-tribune.

Pepperdine said he saw people trying to resuscitate a woman before her body was covered.

A woman died at the scene, and two more people died later at hospitals. Another person was taken to a hospital, and a person who had minor injuries was treated at the scene, according to statements from the city. All victims were said to be adults.

Cliffside collapses are not unusual as the ocean chews away at the base of the sandstone, authorities said. Some beach areas were marked with signs warning of slide dangers.