Dutch Prince Johan Friso buried alive by avalanche in Austria.

Austria media reported that rescuers had to resuscitate Prince Johan Friso after he spent at least 15 minutes buried in the snow.

The prince was then flown by air ambulance to a hospital in Innsbruck where authorities described the 43-year-old’s condition as critical but stable.

Unconfirmed reports said he had suffered a fractured skull.

Queen Beatrix and Princess Mabel, the prince’s wife, are both at the hospital and Crown Prince Wilhem-Alexander is flying to Austria.

“I have spoken with the Queen, and she and Princess Mabel are at the hospital now,” said Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, in a brief statement.

“The prince is stable but not out of danger, and we await more information. Austria has excellent medical care and we have great faith in it.”

Prince Friso was part of a group of four that was skiing off-piste early Friday afternoon when the avalanche struck near the village of Lech in western Austria.

All other members of the party escaped when the 30-metre (100ft) wide torrent of snow struck, but the prince was buried.

“After the emergency call, rescue crews were on the scene with rescue helicopters. He was located immediately and freed,” a police official said.

The upmarket town of Lech is a popular destination with the Dutch royal family and Prince Friso took his family there last year for a winter holiday.

Heavy snow falls had prompted the Tyrol region, according to the Austrian newspaper Kurier, to post an avalanche warning of four out of a maximum of five on Friday for the village of Lech.

A “four” warning means that skiers should not take to the slopes.

Dutch media quoted a professional skier familiar with the area who said he “could not believe that somebody with as much experience as the prince was skiing off-piste”.

He added that he had skied the slopes around Lech only last week and “it had scared him to death.”

Prince Friso, who has an degree in mechanical engineering, lives in London with his wife and two daughters, and works as chief financial officer for Urenco, a uranium enrichment company based in Berkshire.

In 2004 he renounced his right of accession to the Dutch throne by marrying Mabel Wisse Smit, a commoner although he remained a member of the Dutch Royal House.

The marriage prompted a major scandal in Holland after it emerged that Smit had had a relationship with a well-known figure in the Dutch underworld and drug dealer who was later murdered.