A grieving father has recalled the horrific moment his son was buried alive when a sand tunnel he was digging suddenly caved in.
Riccardo Boni, 17, was on holiday with his family on Thursday when tragedy struck on the popular Montalto di Castro beach in north-west Italy.
Riccardo had been playing in the sand, carving out a tunnel that he intended to crawl through from one side to the other.
But as he passed through the centre, the structure gave way without warning, swallowing him whole and leaving no trace on the surface.
The teenager’s father, who was just ‘meters away’, has revealed how his son ‘didn’t even have time to scream’ before he was buried.
‘Riccardo was 1.75 meters tall, the hole was 1.50 meters deep, his head was sticking out,’ he told Corriere Della Sera.
‘And yet, I don’t know if it was the heat or the fatigue, at a certain point he must have collapsed.
‘He didn’t even have time to scream. Why didn’t he scream? Why didn’t I hear him?’
Upon realising what had happened Riccardo’s father, along with beachgoers and lifeguards, began frantically digging through the sand, clawing at it with their bare hands as emergency services rushed to the scene.
But, by the time emergency services arrived, Riccardo had already died.
A swimmer who witnessed the horror said: ‘He had built a tunnel. He wanted to enter from one side and exit from the other.
‘But as he passed through, when he reached the centre, everything collapsed and the hole was completely covered.
‘You couldn’t see anything anymore; you could have walked right through it and not noticed a thing.
Another local added: ‘When the sand closes in on you, it’s incredibly heavy.
‘It doesn’t even let a little oxygen in, and it’s not easy to extract people because it tends to collapse. A few minutes later, they die of suffocation.’
Riccardo, who lived in Rome, had been at the beach with his father and two younger siblings, aged three and eight.
After the tunnel collapsed, a huge hole was left in the sand, but it reportedly closed in on itself, leaving no sign of the teenager.
Initially, when he noticed his son was missing, Riccardo’s father assumed he had gone to join his siblings, who were playing elsewhere on the beach.
But, when he didn’t return, a major search was started at around 3pm.
For about 40 minutes many people tried to help find Riccardo, but it was reportedly his 5-year-old brother who revealed what had happened.
According to local media, the child told his mother, ‘Riccardo is under the sand’, pointing to the spot where Riccardo had dug the hole.
The father, two lifeguards, and some holidaymakers started frantically digging for the teenager, but by the time they had hauled him from the sand, it was too late for him to be saved.
Pictures show a huge pit in the sand where Riccardo was buried, surrounded by Carabinieri tape.
The mayor of Montalto, Emanuela Socciarelli, described the incident as ‘a tragedy that has left us all shocked.’
‘It’s unthinkable that a young man could lose his life in this way,’ she said on Friday.
‘I want to offer my sincere condolences to this family, to whom we are all truly deeply connected.’
‘In solidarity with the family, all public events have been called off today.’
Local authorities released a statement saying: ‘Deepest condolences for the tragic passing of the young man.
‘In such a time of great grief, we extend our deepest sympathies to the boy’s parents and family, affected by this terrible tragedy.
‘As a sign of respect, all public events scheduled for Friday, July 11, are suspended.
‘The community of Montalto joins in silent embrace with the family.’
