The body of a skier who was swept away by an avalanche has been found in Switzerland.

The 49-year-old Italian man had been skiing off-piste when he was buried under nearly five feet of snow.

Authorities were able to pinpoint him using his phone signal, and his body was recovered from a steep gully on the mountainside, almost three days after he went missing near Ovronnaz, in the canton of Valais.

He had been reported missing by his family after he went missing over the weekend.

But search teams were initially hampered bad weather and had to call off the hunt.

A helicopter equipped to pick up mobile phone signals helped to track him, The Local reported.

Swiss authorities confirmed they found a body.

In September another skier, from Hong Kong, died following an avalanche in Switzerland.

In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Firefighters vehicles make their way to the hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Rescuers make their way to the hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy. A hotel in the mountainous region hit again by quakes has been covered by an avalanche. Italian media say the avalanche covered the three-story hotel in the central region of Abruzzo AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel a convoy of emergency vehicles en route to hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola (Pescara), Abruzzo region. According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region. Authorities believe that the avalanche was apparently triggered by a series of earthquakes in central Italy EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Two dogs wonder past a vehicle and mounds of snow at a nearby sports ground in Montereale. Several people have died after a ski hotel was buried by an avalanche in earthquake-hit central Italy, local media reported quoting rescue services. 'There are many dead,' Antonio Crocetta, the head of a group of Alpine police that was trying to reach the cut-off hotel Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel The hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola (Pescara). According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel A mountain view from the main road to Monterale, after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the region. Several people have died after a ski hotel was buried by an avalanche in earthquake-hit central Italy Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Piles of snow and rubble cascading down the stairway into the foyer of the hotel Rigopiano in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel A man being escorted by Alpine policemen outside the Hotel Rigopiano, near the village of Farinfola, on the eastern lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain. Up to 30 people were feared to have died after an Italian mountain Hotel Rigopiano was engulfed by a powerful avalanche in the earthquake-ravaged centre of the country. Italy's Civil Protection agency confirmed the Hotel Rigopiano had been engulfed by a two-metre high wall of snow and that emergency services were struggling to get ambulances and diggers to the site Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel An Italian firefighters helicopter flies during rescue operations in the area where an hotel was hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel An aerial view of the Rigopiano Hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Firefighters during rescue operations at hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Pescara. EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region. Authorities believe that the avalanche was apparently triggered by a series of earthquakes in central Italy EPA

The 42-year-old man, surnamed Ng, was part of a four-person mountaineering training team in Grindelwald, a village in Switzerland’s Bernese Alps.