Tourists ventured off the designated paths to ski in the backcountry, triggering a small avalanche that buried four fellow snow enthusiasts in northwest China.

The video was filmed in Altay Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on February 13.

Thanks to a swift emergency response, there were no fatalities or injuries.

Mr. Wu Yihao, one of the snow enthusiasts involved in the rescue, initially didn't notice anyone buried. However, he then saw a hand waving through the snow and immediately rushed to help. After digging out a woman's head and confirming she could breathe and move without issues, Wu's attention was drawn to a small, further collapsing hole nearby.

Suspecting someone was trapped underneath, Wu dug about half a metre before uncovering another girl's face. He encouraged her to breathe, noting she was heavily buried and had likely been in a low-oxygen environment for some time.

Wu and others quickly removed the snow from the girl. In the meantime, a rescue call had been made, and the team arrived in less than five minutes.

Four snow enthusiasts were buried; two were lying on top of the snow, relatively safe. The other two, whom Wu and others worked together to extricate, also emerged without life-threatening conditions and recovered well.

The video was provided by local media with permission.

近日，新疆喀纳斯景区迎来持续强降雪，局部区域降雪量达70厘米以上，加之气温升降幅度大，雪层不稳定，发生雪崩的风险极高。2024年2月13日12时许，有2名游客擅自在道外滑野雪，造成小型雪崩，导致4名雪友被崩雪覆盖。经紧急救援，未造成人员伤亡。
据参与救人的雪友吴逸豪先生介绍：“最开始我没有看到下面有埋人，后来看到雪下面有一只手挥上来的时候，第一时间就脱了板冲了上去。当把女子头部挖出来的时候，看她能够呼吸，整个人也没什么问题，她说都能动。我又看到旁边有一个小洞，在一直往下塌陷，我猜测那下面也会有人。然后我就过去挖了半米左右，才挖到另外一个女孩的脸，就提示她呼吸，但是她身上的雪比较重，而且她长时间处于一个比较低氧的状态，我们就赶快清除她身上的雪。旁边有同行的人已经报了救援，救援队非常快，大概不到5分钟就赶到了，几名队员开始向我们了解情况以后，迅速拿出探杆，地毯式搜索，一共有四名雪友被埋，有两名只是躺在雪上，身体基本外露还比较安全。另外这两名，我们几个人齐心协力把她们挖出来以后也没有生命危险，状态恢复的都非常好。”