Authorities released the name of a teen who died from injuries sustained when a cave he was digging collapsed on him at Lahontan State Park on Saturday.
Cody Wright, 17, of Quincy, Calif., was pronounced dead at about 11 p.m. Saturday at Washoe Medical Center, said Washoe County Coroner Vernon O. McCarty on Wednesday.
McCarty ruled the cause of death as asphyxiation.
According to Allan Newberry, chief of operations and maintenance for Nevada State Parks, Wright was at the park with family members who live in the area, when he began to dig a cave near the shoreline of Beach 12 in Silver Springs. Newberry said the family had arrived at the park just prior to the incident.
He said Wright was alone when the collapse occurred. Family members found him buried from his legs to his head in the cave about 3 p.m., and pulled him free before medical help arrived. He was taken by helicopter to Washoe Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries some eight hours later.
Newberry said in the 30 years he's been with the Parks department, he's never heard of a such an accident.
"Hopefully, this is one of those one-time occurrences," he said.
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