Roof Avalanche Dumps Snow on Passersby, 2 Hospitalized

Five people in total were involved in the incident

An avalanche from an ice rink's roof buried five people in snow Wednesday evening in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and sent two of them to the hospital.

The five were walking on a pathway between the Simoni Ice Rink and a softball field when the snow fell on them, police say.

Four of them managed to climb out of the snow, but there was so much snow that one other person couldn't.

Police and fire officials responded and managed to dislodge the fifth person.

One person was taken to the hospital with neck and shoulder pain, while the other was taken as a precaution.

Inspectors remained at the scene to examine the building's structural state.

Dan Delongchamp said he know something was wrong when he rode by the ice rink, so he immediately turned his bike around.

He said he quickly realized people were trapped as people shouted for help from the snow, so he began to dig.

"I was reaching through the snow, trying to probe and find something and I felt like a soft, it was a jacket," he said.

After about 10 minutes, he found the man awake and breathing.

Delongchamp, a landscape architect by day, says his instincts just kicked in to help.

"You can't wait for somebody to get on the scene before you start digging," he said.

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