Death of Josh Taylor on Bribie Island: Brisbane man buried alive under 1.5 meters of sand ‘planned powerful act for his girlfriend’

A young man who was buried alive under 1.5 meters of sand on a popular Queensland island had plans to propose to his long-term girlfriend before his tragic death.

Josh Taylor’s life support machine was knocked out six days after falling into a deep hole dug in the sand on Bribie Island’s Woorim beach on December 2.

The day before the horrific accident, a friend said Josh told his father, Peter, that he was going to propose to his girlfriend, Kaitlynd Odri, in the new year.

The family friend described how Mr Taylor shared details of his precious final moments with his eldest son at his funeral service on December 20 at Centennial Memorial Gardens in Brisbane’s south-west suburbs.

“The weather was perfect, they fished, swam and had a body surfing competition,” the friend said.

Josh Taylor (above) died six days after being buried alive under 1.5 meters of sand on Bribie Island

“That night they had dinner around the campfire and then Josh told his dad that he wanted to marry Kaitlynd in the new year.”

The couple, who did not live together, are said to have been dating for four years after meeting on the dating app Bumble.

Hundreds of mourners are said to have gathered to say goodbye to Mr Taylor, an arborist from Brisbane.

Mourners were asked to wear board shorts, sundresses and thongs for the occasion to reflect his relaxed, upbeat attitude to life.

Disaster struck when Mr Taylor and the group he was with allegedly dug the 1.5 meter deep hole to roast a pig under the sand – Māori hāngī style.

An alternative theory has been suggested that the group may have hunted the island’s wild boars and dug a sand trap to try to catch one.

Detectives have now launched a criminal investigation into Mr Taylor’s death.

More than a dozen men, including paramedics and Mr Taylor’s friends, worked to get him out of the hole

Josh Taylor’s family said goodbye to him at a memorial in Brisbane on December 20. Josh is pictured in the center

Mr Taylor is said to have fallen into the hole when he tripped and lost his balance as he got out of a chair, his flailing arms bringing down the walls on top of him.

He was buried headfirst, with his ankles barely visible to rescuers who tried to pull him out after their attempts to dig him out failed.

But the weight of the sand and the suction created as they pulled at him meant that even the brute force of fifteen men pulling a rope around his feet couldn’t free him.

An off-duty paramedic advised the rescue crew to try moving in a different direction, eventually freeing him.

But one rescuer, passerby Nathan, said Mr Taylor’s body ‘broke’ when he was released.

‘His whole family was shouting at us, telling us to help, to get a rope so we could pull him out. It was pretty gruesome,” Nathan said.

“There were about fifteen guys pulling the rope and he wouldn’t budge. It was quite intense when he jumped out. I threw up.

‘He broke. The suction, the power of everyone who pulls.’

Mr Taylor had no pulse when he was released, but rangers, friends and family performed CPR for 45 minutes until he was flown to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, where he died six days later.

A GoFundMe from family friend Georgia Hoffman for Josh’s parents raised more than $70,000 before the campaign closed.