A skier defied the odds by surviving an unheard-of 17 hours buried under an avalanche in the Swiss Alps this weekend.
This content was published on
1 minute
The 21-year-old man was pulled from beneath the snow on Sunday, suffering only from mild hypothermia, the police said.
He had been trapped at a depth of about 50 centimetres, and managed to survive thanks to a pocket of air, but the snow above was too heavy to enable him to free himself.
The skier described the experience as one “long, cold night”, and said he now realised he had taken a foolish and dangerous risk.
The man had been reported missing by his family on Saturday afternoon. He had been skiing alone off piste near the village of Evolene in southern Switzerland.
A search was called off overnight for safety reasons, but in the morning a helicopter spotted movement on the surface of the avalanche.
The first few minutes are usually reckoned to be vital in saving lives in cases of avalanches. After 45 minutes the chances of survival are slim.
“I’ve never heard of such a case before,” a police spokesman told journalists.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Mountain doctors face steep slope
This content was published on
Experts say these important family doctors, who in addition to serving remote communities often work on mountain rescue missions, are a dying breed. They are calling for more efforts to make the job more attractive. Initiatives, such as an online platform to help mountain medics find cover, are also proving useful. “We still have more…
This content was published on
On average, 14 ski mountaineers die in the Swiss Alps every year making last week’s single-day toll all the more shocking. Ski mountaineers, also known as backcountry skiers or ski tourers, are aware of the dangers they face each morning when they head into the mountains to walk up a virgin slope, and ski back…
This content was published on
The police said at least three other people were missing and believed to be buried under the snow from avalanches that killed two ski mountaineers and a doctor involved in the search and rescue operation. It was the first time in the history of the Swiss Air Rescue Service (Rega) that a team member died…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.