Five skiers were found dead

(Picture Courtesy-BBC) Missing 5 skiers found dead near Switzerland’s Matterhorn

Mavhungunekuvule Mungomeni

On Saturday, a family member reported five missing skiers who were supposed to be picked up at Arolla. The skiers were all from the same family, but their identities have not been released yet.

On Saturday morning, the BBC news agency revealed that a group of skiers, all Swiss nationals aged between 21 and 58, went on a ski tour from Zermatt, the home of the famous Matterhorn, in Switzerland. The skiers disappeared in the vicinity of the Tete Blanche Mountain due to a storm while on their tour between Arolla and the Swiss-Italian border.

Local police alerted both sides of the route, but severe weather hampered the operation, according to BBC News.

High winds, heavy snowfalls, storms raging in the South of the Alps, and the risk of avalanches have prevented helicopters and rescuers from approaching the area.

The Media report stated that the signal from the group was recorded overnight, but not verbal which allowed the rescue services to get a rough idea of their location.

According to David Averre of Daily said in a statement, the skiers had been missing since Saturday after they went on a ski tour in Zermatt-Arolla. The group passed close to the Tete Blanche, a mountain peak between Zermatt and Arolla, the region was engulfed in a brutal storm that left the skiers stranded at an altitude of around 11,400ft (3,500 meters).

During a press conference held on Monday, the Attorney General of the Canton of Valais, Beatrice Pilloud, the head of the Police of the Canton of Valais, Christian Varone, and the director of the Cantonal Valais Rescue Organisation, Fredy-Michel Roten, announced that five cross-country skiers who had gone missing in the Swiss Alps over the weekend were found dead. The rescue team quickly located the bodies of the five alpine enthusiasts close to the Dent Blanche alpine cabin in Sion, Switzerland.

Tragedy struck five years ago when 14 members of two ski touring parties were lost during a fierce storm on treacherous terrain. It wasn’t the first time this had happened.