Woman crushed to death by snow plough her boyfriend was driving

Vehicle slips off track and lands on its side 15 metres below path

Snowcat machines are often used to clear tonnes of snow to prepare slopes for skiers (Wikimedia Commons)

A woman has died after being crushed by a snowcat piste machine on the slopes of Mount Dobratsch in southern Austria.

The 24-year-old Hungarian woman was riding the vehicle with her boyfriend when the accident happened.

Her 40-year-old partner, who manages an Alpine hut on the mountain, was driving the snowcat up to the summit when the vehicle slipped off the track and landed on its side 15 metres below the path.

The woman was thrown out of the vehicle and then trapped underneath it, the Local reported.

Her partner was reportedly unable to call the emergency services for the site of the crash and walked up the mountain to the summit in order to do so.

It took him an hour to reach the top and she died before help could arrive.

The man was not injured in the crash but was found in a state of shock.

Snowcat machines are used to clear tonnes of snow to prepare slopes for skiers and are built with tracks, like the ones used on tanks, to be capable of traveling over snow and ice.