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Snow groomer at night (symbol image)
Photo: David Tanecek / CTK Photo / IMAGO
A German snowboarder was apparently very lucky in the Austrian winter sports region of Golm: the 41-year-old vacationer from Crailsheim in the Schwäbisch-Hall district was run over by a snow groomer, but survived the accident unscathed.
As the police announced on Monday, the incident happened on Friday on a closed valley run.
The athlete stood about three meters behind the vehicle in the dark when it reversed to repair a depression in the slope.
Because he could no longer avoid it, the man with the board buckled crouched down in the dip and found himself there exactly between the two chains of the machine.
Only his snowboard was damaged.
The driver of the caterpillar stopped immediately when he saw the man suddenly appear in front of his snow plow.
The man was "very, very lucky", said a spokesman for the Montafon Police Inspectorate, according to the broadcaster ORF, "there were a number of guardian angels there".
The policeman warned that you should never drive so close behind a snow groomer.
fek/dpa