A terrifying video has surfaced on social media showing the dramatic rescue of a man who was buried head-first in snow. According to Fox News, the incident happened when a snowboarder was riding down the Mount Baker Ski Area in northwestern Washington, and got buried in a tree well. Notably, a tree well is the area around the tree where less snow is accumulated.
Thankfully, a fellow skier named Francis Zuber spotted him and frantically started removing the snow to rescue him.
A Twitter user shared the rescue video with a caption that reads, ''This man is a HERO Francis Zuber‘s headcam shows him rescuing a snowboarder who was buried head down in deep powder at Mt. Baker, Washington! Luckily, he spotted him as he almost passed him.''
Watch the video here:
The video opens to show Mr Zuber snowboarding through thick blankets of snow. When he notices a snowboard sticking out of the snow, he suspects a man is trapped beneath the snow. He asks, ''You alright?'' When he gets no response, he hurriedly begins to remove the snow.
After a while, a man's hand is seen and Mr Zuber asks him if he is alright and if he can hear him. He then reassures the snowboarder that he will get him out and frantically starts to remove the snow. Mr Zuber finally digs enough to uncover the man's face and remove the snow from his mouth.
"Okay, you're good. I got you," Mr Zuber said. "All right, we're both going to catch our breath for a sec, then I'm going to help dig you out." He then grabs his shovel to dig out the man completely.
Talking about the incident, Mr Zuber told CBS News, ''We figure [he was buried] somewhere between five and seven minutes, he was probably at either a third or just the halfway point of his possible survival time in there."
The man who got buried under the snow has been identified as Ian Steger.
The video has gone viral, and internet users hailed Mr Zuber as a hero for successfully rescuing the trapped snowboarder. One user wrote, ''What an incredible, life-saving rescue that shows a true hero in action. Thank you for sharing.'' Another commented, ''Dude you are an actual hero. There is a 100% chance he would have died without your help.''
A third wrote, ''You are 100% this guy's guardian angel. The chances of you not only coming right through those exact tree's and then stopped turned and looked is a million to 1. And not only that but you had a shovel. This guy had minutes to live, seriously good job man.''
