This is the incredible moment a missing hiker buried under snow managed to wave down a rescue chopper - with only his head and one arm free.

The footage, filmed by paramedic Mathieu Lambert, shows the man desperately waving with his only free limb as the helicopter shined a light on the mountain.

The young man, who has not been named, had been ski touring in the Lidairdes region of Switzerland when an avalanche hit.

His family alerted rescue services when he didn't return on time.

Air Glaciers, a rescue and transport company, received the alert at 5:41 pm on February 8 and dispatched a helicopter with a paramedic and two rescue guides.

The team first checked the car-park where the man had started his journey to ensure that he had not returned to his car.

They then began flying over the route he had provided his family.

The team eventually located visible tracks and dropped one of the guides to trace them.

Miraculously, only using the search light on the helicopter, the team was able to spot the man's arm waving at them and extract him from a large pile of snow blocks.

He was then hoisted 30 meters up to safety.