Two Cousins Building a Snow Fort Don't Come Home From Playing. Then a Frantic Search on a Snowbank Uncovers One Crucial Object.

NEWBURGH, N.Y. (TheBlaze/AP) — Two young cousins ventured out to take advantage of the recent half-foot snowfall and determined to construct a fort out of the white stuff, ABC News said.

But the parents of 11-year-old Elijah Martinez and 9-year-old Jason Rivera became alarmed when they didn't come home from playing, and after a fruitless search called police around 11:50 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

Image source: YouTube

Officials were searching a snowbank at a health center nearby around 2 a.m. Thursday when an officer saw a shovel half buried. The officer took the shovel and started to dig and saw a small boot. Faint voices were heard inside the snowbank, News 12 Westchester reported. Others joined in, some digging with bare hands, and the boys were found.

They were conscious and suffering from exposure and taken to the hospital after being trapped under the snow for about eight hours. Officials said one child was hospitalized for observation.

Turns out a snow plow operator had been clearing a parking lot by pushing snow over and didn't see the boys on the other side of the pile.

Newburgh is about 60 miles north of New York City, and one resident who witnessed the rescue said reflects the community's bond.

“As a parent, I was shocked and I was distraught because that could have been my son,” Takiaya Stevens said, ABC News noted, adding that it "showed common courtesy and decency. They ran to every neighbor in my complex to try to get shovels for these little kids.”

This story has been updated with video and new information.