Bowling alley man had suffocated

The owners of Hollywood Bowl said it was the first incident of its kind

A man found beneath a ten-pin bowling machine had suffocated and been crushed to death, post-mortem tests have shown.

Police are unsure how Ferdinand Dela Cruz, who was a technician at Hollywood Bowl in Barking, east London, came to die under the machine on Thursday.

It is being treated as an unexplained death, but one line of inquiry is that a ball was thrown down a lane as he was beneath the mechanism, triggering it.

Police have urged five youths seen bowling near lane 18 to come forward.

One of the youths is black and the other four are Asian. All are aged between 16 and 18.

Traumatic asphyxiation

Officers also want to speak to anyone who was bowling at the venue from 1600 BST on Thursday 6 July.

The bowling alley remained closed on Sunday while the police investigation continued. CCTV footage is being studied to find out how the victim died.

The post-mortem examination revealed Mr Dela Cruz died from traumatic asphyxiation and compression of the chest.

The 34-year-old was married, with a son, and lived in East Ham.

Police are investigating alongside environmental health officers.

Mitchells & Butlers, which owns Hollywood Bowl, will carry out its own inquiry once the police inquiry is complete.

A spokeswoman said the company would be co-operating fully with the authorities, adding: "Our thoughts are with the relatives, friends and colleagues of the deceased."

She said at this stage, they did not know what the circumstances of the incident were, but normally power would be shut off while any work was carried out.