A 10-year-old Everett area boy is listed in critical condition at Children's Hospital in Seattle after being buried in a sandbox by his playmates.

The boy has been identified by his family as Codey Porter.

His half-brother, 30-year-old Joshua Quantrille, says Codey was playing with Quantrille's three sons and several other children on Saturday in the back yard of a home belonging to a family friend, in the 13800 block of 59th Ave. SE in unincorporated Everett.

There is a sandbox in the back yard, and Quantrille says his children told him Cody came up with the idea that they should bury him, head first, in the one-foot-deep sandbox.

Quantrille says the children came up with the idea from the 'Naruto' cartoon they watch on television.

Codey was buried about from his head to his chest. At some point, he began thrashing around, but the children apparently thought he was playing.

Eventually they figured out that something was wrong. They pulled Cody out and called the adults inside the home, who administered CPR until medics car arrived.

Codey was first taken to an Everett hospital and later transferred to Children's Hospital.

Snohomish County Sheriff's deputies interviewed the five children who were in the sandbox with Codey.

The sheriff's office has called it a tragic accident.