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
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
‘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?’
A grieving father has recalled the horrific moment his son was buried alive when a sand tunnel he was digging on a beach suddenly caved in. Pictured: A hole in the sand where Riccardo was buried made as his father tried to dig him out
