The rescue of an Austrian skier who was found alive after being buried by an avalanche is being called a “miracle”. Police in Upper Styria—the mountainous and forested region in southern Austria—said they were alerted on Christmas Day that a 26-year-old skier had not returned from the slopes. The man who alerted police said he had managed to get through to the skier’s mobile phone but heard only “crackling noises” on the line, the BBC reported.
A rescue team was able to trace the skier beneath more than 3 feet of snow using an electronic avalanche victim’s transceiver, which skiers are required to wear in avalanche-prone areas. They found the man was on a slope of Mount Pleschnitzzinken, in the northwestern area of Upper Styria. "You can't move under a blanket of snow like this," Stefan Schröck of the Styria mountain rescue service told Austrian public broadcaster ORF. "The man was extremely lucky that 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 found about two hours after authorities were first alerted. However, the avalanche hit the region three hours before that when the man was buried in the snow. A rescue team and local police dogs dug the man out of the snow and he was taken down the valley suffering from hypothermia. He was otherwise unharmed.
An avalanche also swept across a marked ski trail near the Swiss town of Andermatt on Thursday, injuring two people. Four others were either rescued themselves from the snow unhurt. Police and rescuers searched the snowslide after witnesses said more people might be buried, but the operation ended with police saying there were no more victims. The avalanche occurred mid-morning while many holiday skiers enjoyed mountain sunshine the day after Christmas.
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