Boy, 14, Falls Into Gravel Yard Chute

A 14-year-old boy was in critical condition after he climbed to the top of a sandpile in a Vista gravel manufacturing yard and was sucked down into a chute, authorities said.

The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, was taken by helicopter to Palomar Medical Center and was in the intensive care unit with internal injuries, said hospital spokeswoman Marcia Col.

At about 11:30 a.m., a worker at the yard noticed that sand was not coming out of a conveyor belt at the bottom of the sandpile, and suspected that a rock might have gotten caught in the chute, said Vista Fire Department Capt. Don Shellhammer.

He walked into a large pipe that houses the conveyor belt and saw a pair of legs sticking out of the bottom of the chute, Shellhammer said. The sandpile was 15 to 20 feet high.

Authorities did not know how the boy got into the private yard at Business Park Drive and Sycamore Avenue, or what he was doing there.