This is incredible moment beachgoers work together to free two children buried when a huge hole they made in the sand suddenly collapsed.

The incident that almost ended in tragedy happened when the kids were dug to meet a deep hole on a beach at Salt Rock, north of Durban, in the KwaZulu-Natal region on 20th December.

A spokesman for the KwaZulu-Natal Medi Response team, Paul Herbst, said that the girl and the boy, both unnamed and ages not disclosed, had been buried in the sand on the beach in Salt Rock which is on the north coast.

The boy had been freed first, while the girl who was buried up to her neck took longer to free.

The hole they had dug was somewhere between 2 (6.5) and 3 metres (9.8 feet) deep when it collapsed, according to police.

The emergency responder said that there was a severe risk that the blood flow might have been restricted and it was essential to get the girl out as quickly as possible.

It took an hour to free the pair with life-support medics battling to stabilise as the huge weight of the sand pressed down on her body.

In the end, both were rescued and hospitalised with the woman suffering serious injuries but expected to survive.