EVOLENE, Switzerland -- A skier was buried beneath an avalanche for 17 hours in the Swiss Alps before being pulled from the snow with only mild hypothermia, police said Sunday.
The 21-year-old man appeared to have survived because he was trapped next to a pocket of air that allowed him to breathe even though he was unable to free himself from the crushing weight of the snow, police in the southern canton of Valais said.
"I've never heard of such a case before," said police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet. "It's already very difficult to survive more than 45 minutes beneath an avalanche."
The man, who had been skiing alone on an unmarked slope in the Evolene region about 50 miles east of Geneva, was reported missing by his family at 4.30 p.m. Saturday, police said.
Rescuers with sniffer dogs found ski tracks leading to where a large avalanche had come down but had to break off their search overnight for safety reasons.
On Sunday morning, a helicopter crew spotted movement on the surface and rescuers were able to pull the man out from beneath 20 inches of snow, said Bornet.
Chinchilla may win in Costa Rica
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Costa Ricans appeared likely to elect their first woman president Sunday as Central America's most politically and economically stable country chose between a career politician from the ruling party and an anti-taxation Libertarian.
Polls closed Sunday evening after a peaceful election and some people still lined up to cast their vote were turned away. Electoral Tribunal President Luis Sobrado said partial results would come in early today.
Pre-election polls gave a nearly 20-point lead to Laura Chinchilla, who served as vice president under current President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and free-market enthusiast.
Otto Guevara, of the Libertarian Movement Party, emerged as Chinchilla's biggest challenger. He promised to lower taxes, dismantle monopolies and adopt the U.S. dollar as the country's currency.
NASA again fuels space shuttle
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Despite more clouds on the horizon, NASA fueled Endeavour for the second straight night Sunday in hopes of sending the shuttle on the last big space station construction mission.
The launch team began pumping millions of gallons of fuel into Endeavour just as the Super Bowl was kicking off to the south in Miami. NASA's launch director, Mike Leinbach, told his controllers to be at their computers, ready to support the launch, football or not. He said there would be no distractions in the firing room, scene of all the shuttle monitoring.
Endeavour and its crew of six were scheduled to blast off at 4:14 a.m. today with a new room and observation deck for the international space station.
Sunday morning's try was spoiled by thick, low clouds. Forecasters went with a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather at the launch site today.
If Endeavour does not make it off the ground today, NASA officials said they would probably not try again Tuesday, given the exhausting middle-of-the-night schedule.
-- From wire reports
