The avalanche alarm came in at 12:17 from Kebnekaise mountain station. When the rescue team in a police helicopter arrived, a man had just dug his female companion out of the snowdrifts.
She had been buried for up to ten minutes, Petter Pesonen, a doctor and mountain rescuer, told SVT.
The woman was lying one and a half meters under the snow. The man was able to locate her with the help of a transceiver, a combined transmitter and receiver.
She really only survived because he got her out, Odd Fischer, winch operator at the police flight, said.
The woman and man were then taken by police helicopter to Nikkaluokta to meet an ambulance.
We have picked up the people with a police helicopter and brought them to Nikkaluokta for further transport to medical care, police spokesperson Elisabeth Glaas told TT.
The woman was conscious and was not considered to have any serious injuries.
"A woman in her 40s, originally from Poland, was caught in an avalanche near Kebnekaise. She was taken to Kiruna Hospital and her injuries are minor and she will leave the hospital this evening," Region Norrbotten announced at 6 p.m.
There is no information that any additional people were caught in the avalanche.
