Skier survives hours buried under snow in ‘Christmas miracle’ in Austria

Mountain rescue workers dug the man out from under a metre of snow
EPA

A skier who spent five hours buried beneath a metre of snow survived in what emergency services are calling a “Christmas miracle”.

The 26-year-old man, who has not been named, had reportedly been climbing the Pletschnitzzinken Alpine peak around 50 miles southeast of Salzburg with a friend on Christmas Day.

The snow suddenly gave way beneath his feet and he slipped out of sight, The Times reported.

His companion tried to call his mobile phone but was greeted with the “crunching sound” of packed snow.

At 4.50pm local time, as darkness descended, the friend called a team of mountain rescuers, dogs and police officers from the nearby village of Gröbming.

The search party combed the mountainside for more than two hours before finally locating the missing man using an avalanche transceiver – a device capable of detecting weak radio signals.

They dug him out and he was taken down to the valley suffering from hypothermia but otherwise unharmed, according to the BBC.

He survived largely thanks to an air pocket in front of his face which allowed him to breathe, according to a member of the Styria mountain rescue service.

Stefan Schröck told Austrian public broadcaster ORF: "You can't move under a blanket of snow like this.

“The man was extremely lucky he had a big enough air pocket under the blanket of snow, so he had oxygen too and was able to breathe."

The man was transported in a snowcat – a vehicle normally used for preparing ski trails – to the nearest ski station before being treated at a hospital in Schladming about ten miles away. Police said he was recovering.

“The person was in a state of hypothermia but virtually uninjured,” the Gröbming mountain rescue group said. “It’s a Christmas miracle.”

Surviving for five hours under an avalanche happens only every 20 years in the Alps, according to Mr Schröck.

Anyone not found within 15 minutes of an avalanche has a slim chance of survival, particularly since a source of oxygen is needed.

Two people were pulled from the snow and taken to Uri hospital with minor injuries after a large avalanche spilled onto the piste at Andermatt, Swiss police said.

Four more were retrieved unhurt, but it was unclear how many others could be buried under the snow, a police spokesman said, adding that a large rescue squad was on the site.

Danger for the area had been at level three on a scale of five, according to the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), which said fresh and wind-drifted snow was the main threat.

A search operation was launched on Thursday after an avalanche swept across a ski trail near the Swiss town of Andermatt.
AP

In Austria, three avalanches came down in Ankogel in the province of Carinthia, police said.

One happened outside the secured ski slope and buried two free riders, who were able to escape.

A large rescue team, searching for possible victims of another major avalanche that came down directly on the slope, had not found anyone by afternoon, a police spokesman said.

The avalanche warning level had also been at three on a scale of five, according to Carinthia's warning service.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in