ENCINITAS, Calif. _ Three people who were fatally crushed when a bluff collapsed at an Encinitas beach Friday were part of the same family: a 35-year-old woman, her 65-year-old mother and an aunt.
Anne Clave and her mother, Julie Davis, both died at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas following the collapse, according to the Medical Examiner's Office. Clave's aunt was identified in a family email obtained by NBC 7 San Diego as Elizabeth Cox, who died at the scene.
The victims were part of a large family gathering at Grandview beach that day celebrating Cox's victory over breast cancer, NBC 7 reported, citing the email.
The Davis family has called Encinitas home for 40 years, according to a 2016 profile in 92024 magazine. Davis was a mother of four, with nine grandchildren, according to the article.
Davis' husband, Pat, runs a pediatric dentist practice in Encinitas with one of his sons. Clave was listed as the practice's office manager in another 92024 article in 2016.
On Saturday morning, lifeguards reopened the beach on both sides of the collapse zone.
At a news conference, Encinitas Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said his agency will post a lifeguard in the area and keep an eye on the site.
The captain said the lifeguard tower near the scene was moved away from the area Saturday morning, and that officials have determined that "the area is still active." He said a geologist assessing the scene was "concerned about the areas to the side of the current failure failing."
Giles said the bluff failure did not put the homes on top of the cliff in immediate danger.
The collapse happened shortly before 3 p.m. local time Friday in a popular surf spot with a narrow beach between the water and the sandstone cliffs.
Just north of the stairs leading to the sand, a roughly 30-foot-wide chunk of the cliff slipped away. The heavy sandstone crashed down onto the victims near the base of the cliff.
A nearby lifeguard felt and heard the thud as the dense dirt landed.
"It just happened to take place outside his peripheral (vision)," Giles said, noting that the lifeguard had had his eyes trained on the water.
It's not yet clear when the collapse zone will reopen.
"We are going to continue on assessing that with the experts," Giles told reporters, "and the team will continue to reevaluate and determine how long we are going to keep that closed."
Asked by a reporter if last month's 7.1 earthquake in Ridgecrest _ roughly 200 miles away in Kern County, but felt in San Diego County _ could have been a factor in shaking the crumbling cliffs even looser, Giles said there had been no mention of that by the geologists assessing the bluff.
"It's just an erosion incident that took place at this location at the wrong time," Giles said.
