"While the man was stuck in the glacier ice, his faithful companion, a small chihuahua, was left at the edge of the crevasse," Air Zermatt said, adding rescuers were then able to "locate the exact site of the accident" and retrieve the hiker from the crevasse.

Rescuers are crediting a hiker's long-haired Chihuahua for helping them find him in a crevasse after he plunged into a Swiss glacier.

The victim was found after a member of the rescue team spotted a small movement on a rock; it was the man's dog sitting patiently next to the hole down which its owner had fallen.