Riccardo Boni, a young Italian managed 17, died on Thursday afternoon after being buried in sand when the walls of a hole he had dug on the beach collapsed. The tragic accident occurred in Marina di Montalto, on the northern coast of Lazio (Italy), while he was enjoying a holiday with his family, according to Corriere della Sera.
The teenager had spent the day at the beach with his brothers: they swam, ate and began digging a hole that reached a depth of one and a half metres. A short time later, Riccardo entered the hole to continue working from inside, but the structure collapsed. According to the reconstruction of the events, the young man was completely buried, unable to call for help or breathe.
His parents were resting under a parasol some distance away. When they noticed the boy was missing, they began to search for him. It was his younger brother, aged five, who pointed out where Riccardo had been digging. As they approached, they found his personal belongings and confirmed what had happened. Their cries alerted other beachgoers, who quickly rushed to help.
With the help of lifeguards from a neighbouring beach, who called the emergency services, and other holidaymakers, the young man’s father began digging in the sand until he finally located his son, who was no longer showing any signs of life. An air ambulance landed on the beach and attempted to resuscitate him, but it was not possible to save his life. “You couldn’t see anything from the outside. The hole had disappeared. Everyone was digging, but the sand is heavy,” a witness told the newspaper.
The family, in a state of ‘shock’
Medical personnel had to assist Riccardo’s father, who was completely overwhelmed by the situation. Emergency teams restrained him as he cried out his son’s name. Tuscania police officers also arrived at the scene, launched an investigation and began taking statements from witnesses. The family, in a state of shock, has not yet been able to provide any details.
Statements will also be taken from lifeguards at the beaches near the campsite where they were staying. The young man’s body was handed over to the judicial authorities, as ordered by the Civitavecchia Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has opened an investigation to clarify the facts. A decision on whether to perform an autopsy will be made in the coming hours. The community of Montalto di Castro has been deeply shocked by the tragedy.
The mayor of the municipality, Emanuela Socciarelli, expressed her shock: “We were all shocked; it was an absurd death. We had never heard of anything like it. I saw that the local police and the Misericordia volunteers who came to the scene were also shocked and distressed. I can’t believe he died down there like a trapped rat.
