Group of skiers found lifeless in Swiss Alps 'froze to death' during huge storm
A group of skiers who went missing in the Swiss Alps over the weekend tried to build a snow cave to shelter from the elements but froze to death, it is believed.
Rescuers scrambled to desperately try to save the group of six, who ranged in age from 21 to 58, but they became stranded at an altitude of around 11,400ft (3,500 metres) in a brutal storm.
A member of the group sent a distress call to emergency services around 5pm on Saturday afternoon, authorities said, but helicopters and rescue teams were unable to deploy, such was the ferocity of the storm.
The cross-country skiers had left Zermatt, Switzerland on Saturday morning with the goal of reaching the town of Arolla, near the Matterhorn mountain. Five alpine enthusiasts had perished close to the Dent Blanche alpine cabin. Rescuers are continuing a desperate search for a sixth missing person. Five of the six are reportedly from the same Swiss family, police said, but did not specify the identities of those found dead.
Helicopters are pictured during the search operation for six cross-country skiers (POLICE CANTONALE VALAISANNE/AFP)Anjan Truffer, head of rescue at Air Zermatt who conducted the rescue operation, told Swiss media: "The picture we found was ugly... We saw that the ski tourers had tried to build a cave and protect themselves from the wind. The ski tourers froze to death at altitude, disorientated,' he said, adding their bodies were found scattered around the site, suggesting they had panicked before losing consciousness.
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Christian Varone, head of Valais cantonal police, told reporters that rescue workers had pulled out all the stops to try to reach the stranded skiers but faced horrendous conditions.
"We were trying the impossible," he said, adding that the mission had pushed its efforts "to the extreme, extreme limit", but were forced to turn around to avoid "seriously endangering the lives of the rescue workers. Sometimes you have to bow before nature."
Mr Truffer confirmed that emergency services received a distress signal from one of the skiers at around 5:19pm local time on Saturday. This, he said, gave rescuers a rough location in the Col de Tete Blanche, whose peak stands at 12,160ft above sea level. Mr Truffer told Swiss outlet Blick that the weather was so bad that flying in to rescue the skiers simply wasn't an option.
He said there were "very strong winds, heavy snow, high avalanche danger, and zero visibility," which would leave rescuers 'dead in two minutes". He added that when the group left Zermatt, the bad weather conditions were already known and he believes that the skiers were caught in the storm rather than struck by an avalanche.
With helicopters unable to brave the storm, five rescuers had tried to reach the rough location on foot from Zermatt, but they too were forced to turn back at an altitude of 9,840ft due to the bad weather, according to local media reports.
On Sunday, a team consisting of two rescue workers, a doctor and a mountain police officer, was finally able to be dropped off by helicopter nearby, police said.
"At around 9:20pm, it reached the Tete Blanche sector, where it discovered the bodies of five of the six people who were missing," it said in a statement. The search is continuing for the last member of the group.
"As long as there is hope we will keep going... while remaining realistic in view of the conditions this person has been in for the past 48 hours," Varone said.
Fredy-Michel Roten from the Valais Rescue Organisation told local press that six private rescue helicopters and two Swiss army Super Puma choppers are participating in the rescue mission along with dozens of specialist mountaineers.
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