GREENWICH — Footprints in the snow and a partly buried child's sled led rescuers to two boys who were buried in a snow pile Tuesday when a work crew clearing village sidewalks dumped a load on top of them.

Joshua J. Demarest, a 13-year-old Greenwich school district seventh-grader, was the first child the rescuers pulled from the snow. But he was in poor condition and died later Tuesday night at Saratoga Hospital.

When the second child was found rescuers bowed their heads again, fearing the worst.

Someone screamed, "He's alive," Greenwich-Cambridge Police Chief George Bell told reporters Wednesday morning.

"He started talking to the officers," Bell said. "They scooped him out of the snowbanks."

Tyler J. Day, a 12-year-old and seventh-grader, was able to talk to rescuers. Treated at the hospital Tuesday night, the boy was home sleeping by Wednesday morning, Bell said.

Bell said Tyler told them he and Joshua went to the snow pile to play after school Tuesday. They dug forts in the snow and burrowed into the pile when they heard snow removal equipment pull into the lot the village uses to dump cleared snow.

When the boys didn't return home by dark, a relative called police. Deputies, police, state troopers and park rangers hunted for the boys. Footprints leading to the snow pile were found in the backyard of a nearby home and a State Police dog caught a scent, Bell said.

Rescuers were told the boys took sleds with them Tuesday and someone spotted a partly buried sled in the snow pile. They started digging through the packed and heavy snow and ice.

"They moved an enormous amount of snow," Bell said. "By hand, shovel, snow rake ... to recover those boys."

Bell said the boy who survived explained they didn't worry when the heavy machinery pulled into the lot. Instead, they kept playing and dug further into the pile. The road crew worked on the other side of the pile and the boys went unnoticed.

"This is a true tragedy. It's an accident," Bell said.

State Police Senior Investigator Bob Stampfli called the rescue of Tyler a miracle but he and the others said the other boy's death blunted any sense of satisfaction.

Joshua's death wasn't the only pain for his family: At about 3 p.m. Tuesday, his grandmother died in New Jersey, Bell said. His mother was in New Jersey when she got word about what happened in Greenwich.

"He loved sports. All kinds of sports," Greenwich Superintendent Mark Fish said, recalling that Joshua played soccer. "I found out he was in the French club as well. He also loved the outdoors."

The district was preparing to counsel grieving students, he said. Grief counselors will remain at the district as long as necessary.

Chai Stark, who manages the Youth Center, said both Joshua and Tyler were regulars at the center.

"They were so close, just like brothers," Stark said.

The center is a popular place for local teens and the police stopped there as the search was getting underway, she said. She mentioned the snow pile as one of the places where Joshua and Tyler like to spend time.

Bell said he believes the two boys started playing in the snowbank around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. The mound is in a private lot on Rock Street used by village public works trucks to dump snow.

The surviving boy said he heard the backup alarms of the dump trucks nearing the snow piles, Bell said earlier Wednesday.

"Then it just went dark," Bell said.

Bell said that the village workers "are a mess" over the tragedy. The two workers who dumped the pile of snow as well as other public works employees are also talking to grief counselors.

"They are devastated," said Leo Flynn, superintendent of public works.

Bell said it was truly an accident.

"There's no way anyone could have known what was happening," he said.

Greenwich is a small community in mostly rural Washington County.

"Everybody knows each other," Bell said. "It affects us all in a real way."

Joshua's Gofundme site is located at

https://www.gofundme.com/funeral-expenses-and-supporting-fam