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3 killed after oceanfront bluff collapses at San Diego-area beach

ENCINITAS, Calif — Three people were killed and two others were injured Friday when an oceanfront bluff collapsed at a San Diego-area beach, authorities said.

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San Diego County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Greenwald said deputies responded at 3 p.m. to the Grandview Surf Beach in northern San Diego County, KNSD reported.

According to Encinitas lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles and sheriff's officials, a woman died at the scene and two other people died at area hospitals, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Their names have not been released, the newspaper reported.

Authorities said a chunk of heavy sandstone, measuring 30 feet by 25 feet, broke loose from a cliff near a mobile lifeguard tower at the beach, the Union-Tribune reported.

One other victim is still at the hospital, while the other victim was treated at the scene for minor injuries, KNSD reported.

Brian Ketterer, the southern field division chief with California State Parks, described the sand as dense Torrey and Del Mar sandstone, the Union-Tribune reported.

“This material is very, very heavy,” Ketterer told the newspaper. “Crews are going to come in and will slowly and meticulously break it apart to see if we have anybody still buried under there.”