A 17-year-old Roman teenager, identified by local media as Riccardo Boni, died on Thursday afternoon after the sand tunnel he was digging on Montalto di Castro’s public beach in the Lazio region collapsed and buried him. The hole, estimated at around 1.5 metres deep, caved in when the youth entered it alone while playing with his younger siblings. Witness accounts indicate that the boy’s brothers had moved away moments before the collapse. When their father realised his eldest son was missing, he and nearby bathers began digging with their hands, later joined by lifeguards, firefighters and a helicopter-borne medical team. The search took about 40 minutes; rescuers pulled the teenager from the sand but were unable to resuscitate him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene from asphyxiation. The Carabinieri of Tuscania have taken statements from witnesses, and the Civitavecchia prosecutor’s office has opened a file on the incident. The body has been placed at the local cemetery pending further examination. No charges have been filed. Montalto di Castro Mayor Emanuela Socciarelli called the death "a tragedy that has left the community shocked." Safety experts warn that so-called “sand entrapment” incidents, in which holes or tunnels collapse without warning, can be fatal; a 2007 Harvard Medical School study found more beach-hole deaths than shark-attack fatalities in the United States over a comparable period. Authorities urged beachgoers to avoid digging holes deeper than waist height and to refill any excavations before leaving.