Both suffered broken backs in the accident and are having surgery Friday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, family members said.

The Seattle teens, 17-year-old Alec Corbett and 14-year-old Allesandro Gelmini, also were suffering from hypothermia when rescued, King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said.

Gelmini was rescued first and Corbett about a half hour later. They spent more than five hours trapped beneath the ice.

Alec Corbett (from myspace.com)

"It was very difficult to get them out, and to get them out alive," Urquhart said.

The teens were hiking with their mothers and their sisters when they were trapped at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The two teens' frantic mothers called 911.

Joanie Corbett: "Oh my God...they're suffocating. No!"

Operator: "I need you to calm down so we can get you help."

Joanie: "We're going to need a helicopter or something. It just collapsed like three minutes ago. Please hurry. Ooh, my God, I can't. No, I can't. Are you sending help? They are going to die."

Joanie: "Do you how calm I am? Our kids, a bunch of snow fell on our kids in there. It's 2 miles in. Is somebody coming?"

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Chrissy Gelmini: "It sounds like it just came, slammed right down on top of them, I don't know. I can't hear them. There is too much noise with all the water running."

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Operator: "Is anyone else who is with you right now, not in the cave, injured?"

Joanie: "No, no, there are some people that came along like three people that are in there trying to rescue them right now. Oh God, OK, can you hurry get some people? Is there a helicopter coming or something? I think I might go in myself."

Operator: "No, Joanie, don't go in there."

Joanie: "I can't wait until you get here."

Rescuers worked with members of the Snoqualmie Ski Patrol to assess the danger before beginning the rescue operation.

"Talking to them (ski patrol) afterward, they said 'We're not going to find anybody alive in there,'" said Dean Dealteriis with Eastside Fire and Rescue.

But once they began what they feared would be a recovery mission, rescuers found a new source of hope.

"The mood changed quite a bit up there when they (the teens) started responding to us, and it really changed the whole atmosphere," Dealteriis said.

Crews worked with a chainsaw to cut through approximately 6 or 7 feet of ice, cutting out 1-foot ice cubes and throwing them out of the way until they finally reached the teens.

"They were pretty contorted in the positions they were in. One was bent over quite a bit on a rock. The first gentleman's arm was trapped," said Dealteriis. "(The second victim) was farther down and farther out."

Aside from hypothermia, Dealteriis said the teens did not suffer any mayor injuries.

"They really didn't know what time it was. One was hypothermic, one had some frostbites and lower-extremity injuries," he said. "Anytime you're trapped under a heavy weight for a long amount of time there are some crush injuries."

Corbett's mother, Joni, walked over to speak with reporters after both boys had been rescued. She said she was ecstatic to learn that both had survived.

Her husband, Brian, said his emotions have gone "from the lowest I've ever been to now, it's just great."

Ten-year-old Marta Gelmini, who watched her brother get buried alive, said her prayers had been answered.

The accident happened in the Denny Creek area, about two miles from this Cascade Mountain pass, which lies about 50 miles east of Seattle. A small creek, or cascade of melted snow, had carved out a cave, with a roof of compacted ice.

Several members of a church group that was hiking nearby witnessed the teens exploring the cave when the roof collapsed.

Matthew Miller, a 15-year-old boy, rushed with others to help after the ice collapsed.

"It was just a deafening crash," Miller said. "It really got your attention."

He said one of the mothers told them the two boys had found an ice cave and were posing for a picture about five yards inside its mouth when the ice above them crumbled.

Miller said nearby hikers tried for about 10 minutes to chisel away at the ice with sticks but then moved out of the area because they realized how unstable the snow and ice were.

Miller said he was astonished that the two boys survived.

"It's beyond luck," he said.