5 skiers found dead in Swiss Alps, search for sixth continues
Mountain rescuers and helicopters participate in a rescue mission the Tete Blanche mountain in the Swiss alps mountains, near Sion, Switzerland, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (Credit: Associated Press)
Five of six missing cross-country skiers were found dead on an Alpine ridge near Switzerland's Matterhorn late Sunday, and the search for the sixth resumed Monday morning, authorities said.
Valais regional police said the six skiers set out from the resort town of Zermatt on Saturday en route to the village of Arolla, on the border with Italy, but when they didn't arrive by 4 p.m., a family member contacted authorities.
Valais Police Commander Christian Varone said during a press conference that the ski group set out in "relatively good" conditions, but the weather soon turned "catastrophic" with plummeting temperatures and increased avalanche risks.
Five of the six skiers were members of the same family from the Valais region, while the sixth was from Fribourg in western Switzerland, Varone said. The skiers were aged between 21 and 58, but Varone did not disclose their identities.
At 5:19 p.m. on Saturday, a member of the group managed to make a call to emergency services, allowing rescuers to pinpoint their location in the area of the Col de Tête Blanche at an altitude of around 11,483 feet.
Rescuers set off for the location but had to turn back due to bad weather, including wind, fog, cold and avalanche risk, police said. Rescuers monitored conditions overnight in case a break in the weather opened.
"We were trying the impossible," Varone said, but were forced to turn around to avoid "seriously endangering the lives of the rescue workers."
"Sometimes you have to bow before nature," Varone said.
Hopefully it’s information you never need, but knowing how to keep yourself safe from an avalanche could save your life one day.
The search resumed Sunday morning, with the Swiss Army Air Force sending a Superpuma helicopter to assist the rescue team's aircraft in the search. At 6:30 p.m., a team of two rescuers, a doctor, and a mountain police officer were dropped near the skiers' last known location and hiked toward the Tête-Blanche sector.
At around 9:20 p.m. Sunday, the team located five of the skiers, and all were dead. The search for the sixth skier resumed Monday morning.
"As long as there is hope, we will keep going... while remaining realistic in view of the conditions this person has been in for the past 48 hours," Varone said.
Reporting by TMX
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