A 12-year-old boy has been found alive after being buried under an avalanche for 40 minutes in the French Alps.
Police in the town of Bourg Saint-Maurice said the boy was skiing off-piste at the La Plagne ski resort with a group of seven skiers on Wednesday when he was swept away by a huge mass of snow.
Rescue workers flew by helicopter to the avalanche scene, which was 7,875ft up the mountain.
A sniffer dog found the boy, whose snowsuit was not equipped with an avalanche detector.
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Rescue workers described the operation as "miraculous" because the chances of survival are minuscule after 15 minutes under the snow.
The boy escaped unscathed and was sent to a local hospital for a check-up.
