Miracles happen, and this is absolutely one of a kind miracle. 21-year-old skier was buried beneath an avalanche for 17 hours in the Swiss Alps before being pulled from the snow with only mild hypothermia, police said Sunday.
The man was skiing off piste near Evolène in the Swiss Valais when he was buried by the slide. His parents reported him missing and search operation began. Soon they found the remaining of an avalanche measuring 50 by 150 meters with tracks entering. Unfortunately the rescue team was not able to do anything due to security issues, so they came back next morning with a helicopter.
The man was buried but the top of his helmet was just below the surface of the snow so he was probably able to breath but amazing he didn’t not suffer severe or fatal hypothermia.
“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.”
So far unidentified Swiss skier was skiing alone in the avalanche prone backcountry in the Evolene region about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Geneva. 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. Every year dozens of skiers are killed by avalanches in the Swiss Alps.
The skier has been hospitalized but appears to have suffered no serious injuries, Bornet said.
“He’s a very lucky man,” he said.
In case you didn’t notice our previous article check how massive and avalanche can be.
Source [Le Nouvelliste and TSR]
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Wow, that’s really amazing… miracles do happen