A snowboarder died after her head was crushed by a massive snow grooming machine that she smashed into in a shocking accident at an altitude of over 2,000 metres.

The 29-year-old woman from the city of Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, died after she ended up “partially under the snow groomer” at around 2.45pm on Wednesday afternoon, 7th December.

At the time, she was on her way to the upper part of the 11th slope in the Horberg area, in the Ziller Valley in the state of Tyrol, Austria, along with her partner.

But due to reasons unknown to the police, she collided with an oncoming snow groomer and ended up trapped under it.

Other ski centre tourists who noticed the incident rushed to help the woman, but neither they nor later medical crews could resuscitate her.

She died on the spot after having suffered severe head injuries in the tragedy at an elevation of 2,002 metres (6568 feet) above sea level at the Mayrhofen ski area.

Officials from the Mayrhofen Mountain Railways (Mayrhofner Bergbahnen) said: “We are deeply shocked by this incident.”

Austrian police stated: “At an altitude of 2,002 meters, the cause of the collision between the snowboarder and the snow groomer was unknown, causing the woman to fall under the snow groomer and suffer serious head injuries.”

The woman’s partner had to be taken care of by a crisis intervention team, after he suffered severe shock following the horror incident.

Authorities claimed they will initiate an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.