An 11-year-old boy was given a snorkel to breathe through after the hole he was digging on an Adelaide beach collapsed on top of him.

Jordan Spraggs had been digging the hole at Horseshoe Bay on Thursday when it collapsed, covering him with more than a metre of sand, the Nine Network reported.

Jordan Spraggs was digging a hole more than a metre deep when it collapsed on him. Credit:Nine News

“I was shouting out for help, and no one could barely hear me,” he said.

"[The sand] was up to probably about an inch above my head."