Valais is in mourning. Emotions were high Monday evening in this Swiss canton, after the discovery of the bodies of five of the six ski hikers missing since Saturday.
The five hikers found dead were all members of the same family from the town of Vex, located in the Herens valley. The police also continued the search on Monday to find the sixth person, originally from the canton of Fribourg, without success for the moment.
Vex collects himself
Very moved, around 400 people gathered together in the evening in Vex, candles in their hands, after a ceremony at the church. Residents also came to lay bouquets of flowers in tribute to the victims.
“I wanted to show all my sympathy, I am very touched,” explained Micheline Georges-Logean, a resident of the valley who came to place a bouquet of white roses in front of the village church. “I know the parents (of the three deceased brothers) well. The children are a bit the same age (as mine) so here’s bringing a bouquet of flowers, and saying a prayer….”
“Sometimes we have to bow to nature”
The police did not wish to provide details on the identity of the people found until the results of the formal identification are known. An investigation is underway to elucidate the circumstances of this tragedy. The group of hikers, made up of Swiss nationals aged 21 to 58, left Zermatt on Saturday morning with the aim of reaching the high altitude village of Arolla the same day.
“Everything was undertaken on a human level, in terms of resources…. we tried the impossible. Sometimes we have to bow to nature,” declared the commander of the Valais cantonal police, Christian Varone, during a press conference in Sion. “The rescuers went to the extreme, extreme limit of possibilities” to find them, he insisted, pointing out the “catastrophic” conditions with wind, fog, freezing cold and a significant risk avalanches.
Storm Monica complicated the search
Emergency services were alerted on Saturday afternoon by a family member who was supposed to meet the group in Arolla and who was worried not to see them arrive. The hikers were able to be located in the Col de Tête Blanche area, at around 3,500 meters above sea level, because one of them managed to call for help. But the storm linked to depression Monica which raged during the weekend in the south of the Alps, with wind gusts of up to 150 km/h or even 190 km/h locally, as well as the risk of avalanches long prevented helicopters and relief columns from being able to approach the area.
On Sunday evening, a team made up of two rescuers, a doctor and a police officer were finally able to be airlifted near the Dent Blanche cabin. It was when they arrived in the Tête Blanche sector that they discovered the five bodies.