Family of skiers found dead in Alps storm near Matterhorn mountain with one still missing

Police continue search for sixth member of the group that went missing over the weekend

The bodies of five cross-country skiers who vanished during an Alps tour have been recovered from the snow with a desperate search still on for a sixth missing person.

The six skiers, five of them from the same family, departed from the Alpine holiday town of Zermatt on Saturday morning to reach the town of Arolla, police said.

The group went missing around Blanche mountain on the Zermatt-Arolla path, near the Matterhorn mountain that straddles the border between Switzerland and Italy.

Head of the police of the Swiss canton of Valais, Christian Varone, arrives at a press conference after five of six cross-country skiers who went missing in the Swiss Alps over the weekend were found dead (AFP via Getty Images)

Police have not revealed the identities of those found dead in the mountain, and continue to search for the sixth person.

The authorities added a storm “raging in the south of the Alps and the risk of avalanches has prevented helicopters and rescuers from approaching the area”.

A team eventually managed to be dropped off by helicopter nearby on Sunday evening and found the bodies in the Tete Blanche sector at around 9.20pm local time.

Police said the skiers in the group were all aged between 21 and 58. Five belonged to one family from the Valais canton, while the sixth person was from the canton of Fribourg.

A helicopter heads towards the Matterhorn (AFP via Getty Images)

Anjan Truffer, the head of Zermatt’s air rescue service, earlier told the BBC that bad weather with “very strong winds, heavy snow, high avalanche danger, and zero visibility” hindered the search operation.

He added he believes the six were overcome by the bad weather, rather than struck by an avalanche.

As soon as it was announced that they were missing, “All the rescue services were alerted on both sides of the route and a large number of technical resources were deployed to locate the hikers,” said the police.

Zermatt is a popular mountain resort renowned for skiing and attracts tourists from around the world. It is known to be a tough route and is only suggested for experienced skiers.