A light plane has been left hanging upside down in ski lift cables after crashing in the Italian Alps.
Pictures were released by Italian mountain rescuers following the crash in Prato Valentino on Sunday, with alpine rescue teams and firefighters called in to help.
Amazingly both the 62-year-old pilot of the aircraft and his 55-year-old passenger escaped the wreckage, although the pilot was hospitalised with minor injuries.
According to CNSAS, Italy's mountain rescue service, the pilot from Genoa was thrown from the plane after it got tangled and flipped over in the cables.
The only passenger on the plane was unharmed and images showed him calmly sitting on the wing as rescuers attempted to take him from the wreckage.
The rescue operation is understood to have taken two hours to complete.
Mountain rescue spokesman Walter Milan told UK tabloid The Sun the men had a lucky escape.
"They were both very lucky, really. If the plane had crashed into the ground, the ending could have been very different," Mr Milan said.
"It was a complicated rescue operation involving many services, but ultimately it was successful, which was the main thing.
"It was a miracle. The pilot suffered injuries but not too serious. Both men were of course very shocked also."
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
