A young skier was buried beneath an avalanche for 17 hours
before being pulled from the snow with only mild hypothermia,
Swiss police said on Sunday.
The 21-year-old man appeared to have survived because he was
trapped next to a pocket of air that allowed him to breathe
even though he was unable to free himself from the crushing
weight of the snow, police in the southern canton of Valais
said.
"I've never heard of such a case before," said police
spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet. "It's already very difficult to
survive more than 45 minutes beneath an avalanche."
The man, who had been skiing alone on an unmarked slope in
the Evolene region about 80km east of Geneva, was reported
missing by his family at 4.30pm on Saturday, police said.
Rescuers with sniffer dogs found ski tracks leading to where
a large avalanche had come down but had to break off their
search overnight for safety reasons.
On Sunday morning a helicopter crew spotted movement on the
surface and rescuers were able to pull the man out from
beneath 20 inches (half a metre) of snow, said Bornet.
The unidentified Swiss skier has been hospitalised but
appears to have suffered no serious injuries, Bornet said.
"He's a very lucky man," he said. Dozens of skiers are killed
by avalanches in the Swiss Alps each year. Last month a
series of avalanches at the same spot killed six people in
central Switzerland, the country's worst such disaster in
more than a decade.
