An air pocket in the heavy wet snow kept two upstate New York boys alive and provided a Thanksgiving Day miracle after a snow plow operator accidentally buried them in the ruins of their snow fort, setting off a frantic rescue effort in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

The boys, cousins ages 11 and 9, had gone outside their apartment Wednesday to build a snow fort in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, after six inches fell on Wednesday But when they didn't return, one's mother called police, around midnight, authorities said. Police canvassed the area, interviewed neighborhood kids and brought in an off-duty police dog.

But the break came when Newburgh Police Officer Brandon Rola spied a shovel sticking up out of a pile of snow near a freshly-plowed parking lot several hundred yards from the apartment complex just before 2 a.m., he began digging and was soon joined by others, some working with their bare hands, according to the Daily Freeman. The operation took a grim turn when they uncovered a boot, and suspected the worst.

But moments later, they boys were uncovered, conscious and alert, but suffering from exposure to the cold. Both children were taken to the hospital, where one was kept overnight for observation.

Police said the boys had been digging out a snow fort in a bank of heavy, wet snow when a plow truck clearing the parking lot of the Family Health Center pushed more snow onto the bank, trapping the boys.

Officers said the plow driver would not have known the boys were on the other side of the snow bank. It's not known how long the boys were trapped under the snow, but officers believe it was several hours.

Police said an air pocket in snow allowed them to breathe and stay alive.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.