A 12-year-old boy in upstate New York died and his friend suffered hypothermia Tuesday after they were accidentally buried inside a snowbank.
Joshua Demarest of Greenwich, New York, was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time after rescue workers discovered him and his friend, 12-year-old Tyler Day, inside the snowbank, according to the Times Union. The newspaper reported that the death was the second to hit the Demarest family within a few hours.
Joshua’s mother was in New Jersey, dealing with the aftermath of her own mother’s death earlier that day, when she received word about what happened to her son.
Greenwich-Cambridge police Chief George Bell told reporters Wednesday morning that Joshua and Tyler, both seventh-graders at Greenwich Central School, were playing Tuesday afternoon in snow piled high in a parking lot by village workers clearing it from the streets. The boys were reported missing when they did not return home by nightfall.
A relative told police that Joshua and Tyler had taken sleds out to play that afternoon. Police, state troopers and park rangers searching for the boys discovered footprints in a nearby back yard.
The prints and a K-9 following their scent led the searchers to the snow pile, the newspaper reported.
When the rescue workers spotted part of a sled sticking out of the snow, they began frantically digging the boys out with shovels, snow rakes and their bare hands, the Times Union reported. Though Joshua was critical when his body was pulled from the snow, Tyler was alert and able to speak to rescuers.
The boy, who was hospitalized overnight with hypothermia, told officials that he and Joshua were building a fort in the snow when they heard a dump truck pull into the parking lot. Tyler said that he heard the beeping of the truck backing up, then everything went dark, the newspaper said.
Bell said road employees were working on the other side of the snow pile and never saw the boys playing, the Times Union reported. He said the workers are “a mess” over Joshua’s death.
"This is a true tragedy. It's an accident," Bell told the media. "There's no way anyone could have known what was happening."
The Greenwich Central School District issued a statement in which officials acknowledged the difficult road ahead, particularly since Joshua's death is the second the small school system has endured in the past nine months. According to WRGB in Albany, sixth-grader Connor McLaughlin was killed in March by a boulder that fell on him while he and his uncle hiked at Roaring Brook Falls, located about 100 miles north of Greenwich.
"As parents and educators, we so often say, 'Go outside. Be kids. Play and explore. Do something, anything. Please.' We never expect it to end tragically under a pile of snow or beneath the weight of a rock on a hiking trail," the statement read.
“Students will need shoulders to cry on, and so will you,” the statement read. “Please know you have our full support in whatever you need. In the best of times, your impact on the children in your care inspires us and fills us with pride. And now, in the worst of times, your care and compassion for their well-being touches us.”
The Times Union reported that the district planned to have counselors available for students and staff. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page set up to help Joshua's family pay for his funeral and burial has raised more than $12,000.
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