2024-03-11 21:00:41
This content was published on March 12, 2024 – 00:01
(Keystone-ATS) Five of the six ski hikers missing in the Tête Blanche (VS) region since Saturday were found dead on Sunday evening. The sixth person has still not been located, but emergency services continue to comb the area to find them.
The missing are five members of the same Valais family, as well as a woman from Fribourg, aged between 21 and 58 years old, Christian Varone, commander of the Valais cantonal police, said at a press conference in Sion on Monday. He did not wish to specify the identity of the people, “formal identification being in progress”. One of the missing was a member of the executive of Vex (VS), however, the president of this commune confirmed.
“Everything was put in place, humanly and materially, to save these six people. The rescuers and the police really went to the extreme of their means. Sometimes before nature, we have to bow,” added the commander. He also notes that there is a red line that must not be crossed so as not to put emergency services in danger.
So far five people have “unfortunately been found dead. Research continues to locate the sixth in a wider area” in the Tête Blanche region, he adds. As long as she has not been found, there is hope, even if we also have to be realistic, notes the commander. He points out in particular the extreme conditions, with very low temperatures, in which this person has found himself since Saturday.
The good weather made it possible to carry out searches on Monday, partly visually, Alexandre Briguet, head of the operational service within the Valais cantonal emergency organization (OCVS), told Keystone-ATS. Avalanche detectors, other tracking devices and probing poles were also used.
“Catastrophic” weather conditions
The group left Zermatt on Saturday morning to join Arolla the same day. But he never arrived at his destination. Worried, a member of the family who was waiting for them there notified the emergency services around 4:00 p.m.
The hikers were finally located, regarding an hour later, thanks to a call from one of them for help. But the “catastrophic” weather conditions are disrupting the search, which will involve around 35 people and eleven helicopters, according to a count from the Valais Cantonal Rescue Organization.
Saturday evening, a relief column, which left from Zermatt, was forced to turn back towards an altitude of 3,000 meters, then land actions were suspended for security reasons. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, a watch is set up in order to evaluate each weather window “which would allow an intervention”, notes Christian Varone. Without success.
“Reasons for the tragedy unclear”
At the same time, IT experts are working to exploit “all the data (cell phones, social networks, GPS) of the six mountaineers”. A team of rescuers can finally be dropped off on Sunday around 6:30 p.m. near the Dent Blanche cabin. She arrived around 9:20 p.m. in the Tête Blanche sector, where she discovered the bodies of five of the six people missing.
“They did everything to try to protect themselves,” notes Christian Varone, without wishing to indicate in what way, an investigation having been opened. “We want to understand the chronology of events which led to this tragedy,” also noted Attorney General Béatrice Pilloud. For the moment, the reasons for the tragedy are not clear, she added.
Asked regarding the weather conditions in Zermatt on Saturday at the time of departure, Christian Varone indicated “that they were relatively good, before deteriorating quickly. It’s the mountain that decides,” he added. The group was traveling on the Patrouille des Glaciers course. Authorities might not yet confirm whether one or more victims were training for the race.
Other dramas
“Our canton has experienced many tragedies in the mountains,” underlines Christian Varone. In April 2000, two people training for the Patrouille des Glaciers lost their lives in the same sector, while in 2018, five hikers died in the Pigne d’Arolla sector, he recalled.
During its March session which began this morning, the Valais Grand Council observed a minute of silence. This drama “reminds us how strong and cruel nature can be”, underlined the president of the cantonal parliament Mathias Delaloye, following inviting his colleagues to stand up.
“Our mountains have once once more shown how dangerous they can be. My thoughts go to those who died in the Tête Blanche tragedy and other accidents and to their families. I extend my recognition and thanks to the rescue teams,” also shared the President of the Confederation Viola Amherd on the social network X.
The village of Vex, and the companies of which the affected family was a member, have also planned an informal ceremony this evening to “pay tribute to our friends who flew to the mountain much too early”, according to a message relayed on social networks.
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