A 17-YEAR-old boy has died on a beach after being buried alive in a hole in the sand.

The teenager is believed to have suffocated to death in a hole he had dug on the beach after the sand collapsed on him.

Emergency services were called to reports of the lifeless teenager on Montalto di Castro beach, in north west Italy yesterday.

Ricardo B., from Rome, was found buried alive, after he had “built a tunnel” on the beach.

A swimmer who was nearby at the time of the incident told local news: “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 center, 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 that there were no screams or sound as the boy was buried “in a matter of moments”.

He said: “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.”

It’s believed the boy began digging the hole with his brothers near the California campsite in the Viterbo province.

After his two brothers left him digging, his father awoke from his nap and began an urgent hunt for the missing teenager.

“A tragedy that has left us all shocked,” Montalto Mayor Emanuela Socciarelli told ANSA.

“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.”