Man dies in 'Buried Alive' haunted house attraction

A man has died in a haunted house attraction called "Buried Alive", as Hong Kong's largest amusement park prepared to kick off its annual Halloween festival.

The 21-year-old man, surnamed Cheung, was hit by a coffin on Saturday, local media said. Cheung was found unconscious five minutes after he entered the attraction, Ocean Park chief executive Matthias Li said Saturday, expressing "deep sorrow" over the tragedy.

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He was confirmed dead in hospital, police said.

"Buried Alive" is part of a Halloween-themed festival at Ocean Park running from October 5 to 31.

The park's website said visitors would "experience being buried alive alone, before fighting their way out of their dark and eerie grave". Visitors are supposed to get inside a coffin-turned-slide, local media said, and slip through into the haunted house where they would experience what the park's website described as "a rocky maze filled with dreadful ghouls".

Hong Kong's government said it believed Cheung entered the house safely but wandered off into a restricted area where he was struck by machinery. The victim was "believed to have entered into an area for mechanical operations that was not open to visitors and was hit by a mechanical part", a statement said.

Police said an investigation was ongoing.

Cheung was friends with an employee of a Swire Group subsidiary and had visited Ocean Park as part of an annual staff event organised by the company, the South China Morning Post reported. The government has ordered the closure of "Buried Alive" until further notice.