SION — Helicopters were combing an area near the Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland on Monday (March 11) to find a missing skier after five other members of the party were found dead after "catastrophic" conditions.
SION — Helicopters were combing an area near the Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland on Monday to find a missing skier after five other members of the party were found dead after"catastrophic" conditions.Tourists take a picture in front of the Matterhorn mountain at the Gornergrat in Zermatt, Switzerland on June 2, 2019.
Authorities have not given the cause of death for the five found late on Sunday but described"catastrophic" conditions with avalanches, snow storms and extreme temperatures. "As long as there is hope we will do all we can, but we have to be realistic about the conditions that person has lived through over the past 48 hours."Eleven helicopters were part of a search and rescue operation over the weekend as well as a five-person team that left Zermatt on foot to reach the area near the Matterhorn, which straddles the border between Switzerland and Italy, after one of the skiers raised the alarm.
"Everything was done in terms of personnel and means and all the bodies worked 24 hours a day to try to achieve the impossible. But we are at the mercy of nature," said Mr Varone.Police said the group of skiers included people between the ages of 21 and 58 but did not say which had died. A formal investigation is under way.