Five Missing Cross-Country Skiers Found Dead as Search Continues for Sixth
Five cross-country skiers have been found dead at the foot of Switzerland’s Matterhorn mountain range after going missing over the weekend. A “major rescue operation” is still underway in the hopes of locating the party’s sixth member, according to Voice of America.
Christian Varone, commander of Valais regional police, reported that the six adventurers, who range in age from 21 to 58 and have not been publicly identified, set out Saturday in “relatively good” weather conditions before the elements turned against them. The hikers, five of whom belonged to the same family, were headed from Zermatt to Arolla; but around 4 p.m. local time, a family member tasked with retrieving the adventurers called investigators, concerned that they hadn’t arrived at their destination.
A "major rescue operation" was launched, and one of the lost hikers was able to speak with rescuers by telephone on Saturday evening before efforts were temporarily halted in the face of a fierce storm in the area, which created high winds and avalanches. However, officials were able to pinpoint a rough location from the brief phone call, deducing that the party was somewhere around the Tête Blanche ridge, which rests at roughly 11,500 feet.
Once the operation was able to resume on Sunday morning, the rescuers located five members of the climbing party deceased near the Dent Blanche peak. Two more rescuers, along with a doctor and a police officer, were taken by helicopter to a cabin near where the bodies were found so that they could continue searching for the sixth climber.
“Unfortunately, this region is accustomed to tragedies like this,” Varone admitted at the press conference. He referenced the tragic 2018 incident in which seven adventurers perished in a similar manner.
Investigators are still trying to determine the exact manner in which the five stranded hikers died. The search continues for the sixth.
This is a developing story. Check back later for more information.