A teacher in Russia had to be dug out from under a huge pile of snow after being buried for four hours, reports The Metro.
Anastasia Markova, 29, became trapped after two snow slabs fell on to her from a hospital roof in Artyomovsky, in the Irkutsk region of eastern Russia.
The unsuspecting teacher had been headed to her local gym for a fitness session. The weight of snow upon her meant Mrs. Markova could not reach her phone and quickly passed out after panicking.
‘I was walking to the gym and suddenly heard a strange noise,’ the mother-of-one said. ‘I raised my head and saw an avalanche of snow rolling right at me. There was no time to jump back or run. The first snow slab knocked me down. The second, heavier, buried me. I started to yell ‘help’ at the top of my voice, but no-one heard me. Then I felt that it was getting harder to breathe, and was overwhelmed by panic. Last thing I remember was thoughts about my husband and our six months old baby.’
Mrs. Markova was rescued after her husband Alexey Markova became worried and went to look for her. He found her bag and then traced her steps back to where she was trapped.
Mr. Markova added: ‘It was getting dark, and for some minutes I strained my eyes looking at this pile of snow. Suddenly I noticed what seemed to be part of my wife’s bag.’
Mrs. Markova was rescued ‘in the nick of time’, according to The Siberian Times. She suffered frostbite on her fingers and toes, along with serious bruising
