THE dad of a 17-year-old boy who died after being buried alive in sand dug with his bare hands in an attempt to reach his son.

Riccardo Boni suffocated in a sand tunnel on a beach north of Rome on Thursday.

The family, who were at Montalto di Castro beach – 65 miles from the Italian capital – at first struggled to locate Riccardo.

It took 40 minutes for the family to find the teen, according to local reports.

Lifeguards and rescuers were called to join in on the frantic search.

His five-year-old brother at one point realised where he was and shouted: “Riccardo is under the sand.”

Two days earlier, the teen had travelled from Rome to Camping California – a camping ground in the beach town in northern Lazio – to spend the holidays with his parents, 14-year-old sister and two younger brothers, aged five and eight.

The family had laid out their towels on the sand next to the camping ground when the tragedy took place at around 3pm, according to local reports.

Riccardo had began digging the hole in a somewhat secluded area of the beach with his siblings, who then became distracted and moved away.

The teen dug the tunnel to a depth of around five feet when the sand gave way and buried him alive, according to Lieutenant Daniele Tramontana, the Carabiniere officer leading the police investigation.

“No-one realised what had happened,” Tramontana told The Sun.

“They lost a lot of time because they couldn’t see him. When they realized he was missing they began to look for him but it was too late.”

He said rescuers found Riccardo’s glasses, T-shirt and flipflops next to the collapsed hole that he had been digging.

“I have spoken to colleagues and we have never heard of anything like this happening before in Italy,” he said.

“We deal with terrible situations all the time but we can’t imagine how a game on the beach ended up this way.

“The family is destroyed, they are in deep shock.”

A beachgoer told the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera: “He had built a tunnel but maybe when he was underneath, everything collapsed on him.”

They added: “You couldn’t see anything from the beach, the hole was gone, no one could see that he was under there.

“Everyone was digging but the sand was heavy.”

Another witness on the beach told Italian media that no one heard the teenager screaming because he was completely buried within minutes.

“The sand when it closes in on you is so heavy,” he told Italian media.

“It doesn’t allow even a little oxygen get through and it’s not easy to extract people from it because it tends to cave in. A few minutes and you die of suffocation.”

Police and local prosecutors from the town of Civitavecchia have opened an investigation into the boy’s death.

Investigators will decide whether an autopsy should be carried out to determine the cause of death.

Carabinieri police interviewed family members and other witnesses.

Montalto Mayor Emanuela Socciarelli told the news agency ANSA: “A tragedy that has left us all shocked.

“It’s unthinkable that a young man could lose his life in this way.

“I want to offer my sincere condolences to this family, to whom we are all truly deeply connected.”

All public events were suspended today to “join in silent embrace with the family”.

Local authorities said: “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.”