2 teens trapped by snow and ice rescued

An ice cave collapsed on two teenage boys Thursday, trapping them for hours until rescuers used a chainsaw to cut through several feet of compact snow and ice to free them.

The Seattle teens, 17-year-old Alec Corbett and 14-year-old Allesandro Gelmini, were suffering from hypothermia, King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said. A Navy helicopter flew the boys to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where they were being evaluated to determine the extent of their injuries. Harborview spokesman Steve Butler said they were listed in serious condition Thursday night.

Gelmini was rescued first and Corbett about a half hour later. They spent more than five hours trapped beneath the ice.

Eastside Fire and Rescue Lt. Dean deAlteriis said the boys had been "pancaked" by the ice, and that searchers used the chainsaw - which they carried with them almost as an afterthought - to cut away 1-foot cubes of ice to reach them.

"I don't think there's anybody who thought we were going to bring out two live, talking patients," he said.

The teens were hiking with their mothers and their sisters when they were trapped at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Their mothers pointed rescuers to the area where they were last seen. After they cut away enough ice, rescue crews could hear the boys yelling.

Draped in a blue blanket, the yellow shoelaces of her hiking boots coming untied, Corbett's mother, Joni, walked over to speak with reporters after both boys had been rescued. She said she was ecstatic, but she didn't want to talk about the details.

Her husband, Brian, said his emotions had gone "from the lowest I've ever been to now, it's just great."

The accident happened in the Denny Creek area, about two miles from this Cascade Mountain pass, which lies about 50 miles east of Seattle.

Several other hikers who had been nearby described the area where the boys were trapped as a canyon that had filled with snow. A small creek, or cascade of melted snow, had carved out a cave, with a roof of compacted ice.

A 50-foot-wide section of the roof fell, but the boys avoided the brunt of it, rescuers said.

Matthew Miller, a 15-year-old boy who had been hiking with a youth group, rushed with others to help after the ice collapsed.

"It was just a deafening crash," Miller said. "It really got your attention."

He said one of the mothers told them the two boys had found an ice cave and had been posing for a picture about five yards inside its mouth when the ice above them crumbled.

Miller said nearby hikers tried for about 10 minutes to chisel away at the ice with sticks but then moved out of the area because they realized how unstable the snow and ice were.

Miller said he was astonished that the two boys survived.

"It's beyond luck," he said.