Animals (including humans) may be buried alive intentionally (as a form of torture, murder or execution), voluntarily (as a stunt, with the intention to escape), accidentally (e.g. under rubble due to a disaster or collapse of a building or cave), or unintentionally (in the mistaken belief that the living person is in fact dead).Physics and biologyIf interment (burial) is not reversed within a short period of time, it rapidly leads to death, usually through one or more of the following: