A man has died after being struck by a rollercoaster at a US theme park - having entered a restricted area to recover a lost mobile phone.

The incident happened at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. 

In a statement, local police said James A Young (45) "had rode the Raptor rollercoaster, and [had] lost some of his personal belongings. After completing the ride Mr Young decided to retrieve the items".

Associated Press reports that the Erie County coroner said that the lost item was a cellphone. 

Mr Young jumped over a fence into a restricted area underneath the rollercoaster, and suffered fatal injuries when he was hit by a Raptor train which was in operation at the time.

The inverted Raptor rollercoaster has a speed of more than 90km/h, according to the Cedar Point website.

The theme park acknowledged the incident on Twitter, and paid their condolences to Mr Young's family:

At 5 pm, a guest entered a restricted, fenced area of Raptor and was struck by the ride. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

— Cedar Point (@cedarpoint) August 13, 2015