A pair of teens were found safe during a four-hour search-and-rescue operation in the woods behind a Massachusetts high school this week thanks to a state police helicopter flying overhead and first responders who weren't afraid to get dirty.
The moment was caught on video, the boys' heat signatures appearing on camera amid trees. But the hard work getting the teenage boys was just beginning for their rescuers.
"The wood cover and vegetation in the area was so dense that the rescue team on the ground had to use chain saws to cut their way into and out of the woods and the rescuers and teens had to navigate through deep mud several times," Massachusetts State Police said Friday.
The two teenagers, who are 16 but haven't been identified, were reported missing near a swamp in Easton, believed to be lost in thick woods behind Southeastern Regional Vocational High School, police said. Thirty people searched for them.
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They were eventually spotted by the state police helicopter at about 5:50 p.m., and the airborne troopers helped guide other rescuers to their location. The teens were dehydrated but brought home safe after being missing a total of about six hours.
