Tense moment man buried under snow is rescued after a skier spots his waving hand poking out

A skier in Switzerland has captured the incredible moment he spotted an arm poking out of the snow in what became a tense rescue mission.

Matteo Zilla was skiing in Engelberg, Switzerland, when a waving arm caught his attention. In a clip posted to Instagram, the 37-year-old avid skier rushed towards the snow-covered person and immediately began shovelling away the snow.

“I’m coming, all good!”, Mr Zilla can be heard saying as he frantically clears snow from the man’s airways.

Once other skiers realised the tense situation, they quickly gathered around and began working to free the buried man.

Thanks to quick thinking of Mr Zilla and the other skiers, the man was freed from the snow, with Mr Zilla posting on Instagram: “We released him and fortunately no consequences.”

The incredible video shared to Instagram quickly gained traction, with one person even calling Mr Zilla a “hero”.

“Amazing rescue, bravo!”, one commenter said, with another asking: “How did you even spot him? That was such a tiny wave”.

According to the Daily Mail, Mr Zilla said: “We were skiing in Engelberg on a powder day. It was snowing and we received around 40 to 50 centimetres of fresh powder.”

“We found out he had been skiing down, didn’t see some small bushes and flipped over into the snow,” he said. “My emotions were on one side, but they weren’t important. The most important thing was saving his life.”

Unfortunately, many other skiers haven’t been so lucky, with at least 17 people killed by avalanches in Europe in the past month.

On Sunday, a British man believed to be in his 50s was buried under snow at La Plagne ski resort in France, according to a statement from the resort.

French media reported that 52 rescue workers, sniffer dogs and a helicopter were deployed, but it took 50 minutes to find the man trapped under 2.5 metres of snow, and he could not be revived.

In nearby Courchevel, also in Savoie, another person was buried by an avalanche and found dead in the late morning, reports said.

More avalanches were reported across Savoie on Sunday, prompting the local officials to call on locals and tourists to “be extremely careful”.

“By 12.30pm, rescue services had already been deployed to six avalanches on different mountain massifs,” the prefect of Savoie posted on Facebook.

Avalanche danger is set to remain high across all mountain groups in the coming days and local officials are strongly advising against venturing off piste.