A sandstone bluff gave way on the beach at Encinitas north of San Diego, trapping people under debris

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Three people have been killed after a cliff collapsed on to a popular southern California beach.

The beach remained closed on Saturday after 30-foot long slab of sandstone bluff gave way shortly before 3pm on Friday in Encinitas, a suburb north of San Diego. The area is very popular with locals, surfers and holidaymakers.

The beach was filled with people at the time of the collapse. Pictures showed beach chairs, towels, surf boards and beach toys strewn about the sand.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An excavator clears debris at the beach in Encinitas. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

“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 later died at hospitals. Two people were treated for minor injuries, the Encinitas fire chief, Mike Stein, said. Authorities did not release the names or ages of the victims, but said all were adults.

Homes on top of the cliff were not in any danger, Stein said. Rescue crews were searching for additional victims, but they did not have full access because of safety concerns.

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.

Bluffs give way four to eight times a year in southern California, but “nothing of this magnitude”, said Brian Ketterer, southern field division chief of California state parks.

“This is a naturally eroding coastline,” the Encinitas lifeguard captain, Larry Giles, said. “There’s really no rhyme or reason, but that’s what it does naturally … This is what it does, and this is how our beaches are actually partially made. It actually has these failures.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A sniffer dog searches through debris at the beach. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Suburbs north of San Diego have contended with rising water levels in the Pacific ocean, pressuring bluffs along the coast. Some bluffs are fortified with concrete walls to prevent multimillion-dollar homes from falling into the sea.

The collapse occurred near Grandview beach. It is fairly narrow, with tides high this week.

Long stretches of beach in Encinitas are narrow strips of sand between stiff waves and towering rock walls. People lounging on beach chairs or blankets are sometimes surprised as waves roll past them and within a few feet of the walls.

Some areas are only accessible by steep wooden stairs that descend from neighborhoods on top of the cliffs.