Five skiers found dead above the Zermatt station-Liberation

The bodies of five skiers were found on Saturday May 24 in the Rimpfischhorn massif, around Zermatt ski resort in Switzerland, police of the Canton of Valais announced in a statement published on Sunday. The formal identification of the victims, which were on the Adler glacier at 4,000 meters above sea level, « Is still in progress », said the police.

Two ski hikers gave the alert on Saturday around 4:30 p.m., while they were ascent of the glacier. They had noticed the presence of skis at the foot of the summit – in a deposit provided for and effect – but « Without having met their owners on the route », said the press release.

According to Swiss Radio (RTS), Three bodies were on an avalanche cone, some 500 meters below skis. The other two bodies were nearly 200 meters higher, on a snowy surface.

The lifeless bodies of these five people were quickly discovered, after overflight by an Air Zermatt helicopter, an airline ensuring aerial rescue in a part of the canton of Valais. The police, however, give no details on the circumstances that have been able to lead to the death of the five skiers, nor on their gender or their age.

But according to Air Zermatt Air Rescue Manager, Anjan Truffer, whose comments are reported in the Swiss media 24 hours,, « It is possible that the group was carried away by the sliding of a plate in the corridor where they climbed ». The five skiers would then have been able to slip « Over several hundred meters ».

The company will later specify that « About 500 meters below » from the place where a ski deposit is located, the helicopter crew « Discovered three mountaineers on an avalanche cone », But the emergency doctor could only note their death.

« While the crew continued to search the rock wall above, they discovered two other people on a small snow plate about 200 meters above », Added the air press release Zermatt, specifying that there again the two skiers had already died when the crew arrived.

Questioned by AFP, police spokesperson Kathleen Pralong-Cornaille, said that identifications and details on the circumstances of the death of the five skiers should be available in the coming days. The Swiss public prosecutor has opened an investigation to determine the exact circumstances of this accident.

On Sunday, a 29 -year -old Swiss mountaineer was killed in an avalanche, on the Morgenhorn, who overlooks Kandersteg, a village nestled in the heart of spectacular landscapes in the canton of Bern.

In March 2024, six hiking skiers died in a violent snowstorm near Zermatt. The group aged 21 to 58, included five members of the same family.

Update at 8:22 p.m. with the statements of the rescue company manager and the sixth dead