Swiss police have found the bodies of five missing skiers in the Swiss Alps, with one skier still missing.
The police said the group went missing near the Tete Blanche mountain during a ski tour from Zermatt to Arolla along the Swiss-Italian border.
A statement from Swiss Valais canton police reported that five of the skiers, aged 21 to 58, were found “without any signs of life.”
Search Operation in Severe Weather
The police had to find the missing individuals in severe weather conditions, including high winds and heavy snowfall.
The head of Zermatt’s air rescue service suggested the group might have been affected by the adverse weather rather than an avalanche, given the low risk of avalanches in the area where they went missing.
Ski tours like this follow unprepared alpine routes and are typically equipped with location finders and avalanche shovels, initial investigation reveals.
Anjan Truffer, the head of Zermatt’s air rescue service, said the only communication they had with missing skiers was recorded overnight, but it was not verbal, and they did not explain what it meant.
