A 12-year-old boy has been found alive after being buried under an avalanche in the French Alps for 40 minutes.The family had just left a groomed run for an off-piste sector at the La Plagne ski area in southeast France when the boy was caught by the cascading mass of snow at around 2:00 pm (1300 GMT).

Rescuers were unsure of the boy’s location as he was not carrying a transmitting beacon when the avalanche hit. The French mountain police squad brought in a sniffer dog to assist with the rescue and the animal found the child around 40 minutes later.

“It’s a miracle because he had no victim-detection device. The chances of survival are minuscule after 15 minutes under the snow,” a local rescuer said.

The boy, who suffered only a broken leg, is being treated at a local hospital.