Switzerland searchers find bodies of five missing skiers
Five cross-country skiers who went missing during a ski tour in Switzerland were found dead, while a search was still on for the sixth skier, according to police.
Police in Switzerland’s Valais canton on Sunday started searching for six people who went missing during a ski tour that departed from the alpine town of Zermatt.
The skiers, five of them members of the same family, went missing around Tête Blanche mountain on Saturday on the Zermatt-Arolla path, near the Matterhorn mountain that straddles the border between Switzerland and Italy.
The bodies were discovered on Sunday in Tête Blanche, police said.
The police in Valais did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
A storm in the south of the Alps and the risk of avalanches prevented helicopters and rescuers from approaching the area, police said.
The skiers were between the ages of 21 and 58, according to police. Five belonged to one family from the Valais canton, while a sixth person was from the canton of Fribourg.
Zermatt is a popular mountain resort renowned for skiing and attracts tourists from around the world.