A 41-year-old snowboarder from Crailsheim (Schwäbisch Hall district) was run over by a reversing snow cat in Vorarlberg, Austria - and was not injured.

According to the police, the man was crouching on his board in a hollow part of the slope.

Only his snowboard was badly damaged.

The accident happened on Friday on a closed valley run in the Golm ski area, the police said on Monday.

The athlete stood about three meters behind the snow groomer in the dark when it reversed.

Because he could no longer avoid it, he crouched down with the board strapped in and found himself right between the machine's two crawler tracks.

Their driver stopped immediately when he saw the snowboarder suddenly appear in front of his snow blade.