Switzerland: Five skiers found dead near Zermatt

Zermatt: Five skiers were found dead near Switzerland's Rimpfischhorn mountain on Sunday, the prosecutors' office in Canton Valais said in a statement.

The prosecutors said that the identities of the five have not yet been confirmed and that further investigations have been opened.

As part of the probe, weather conditions and avalanche activity in the region are being examined.

Emergency services had been alerted a day earlier to some abandoned skis at an altitude of about 4,000 metres.

A helicopter was sent to survey the area in the mountains near Zermatt, a luxury resort in southwestern Switzerland.

After conducting air and ground searches of the area, rescue workers found the bodies near the Adlergletscher glacier, close to the border with northern Italy.

"The bodies of five people were quickly found," Swiss police said in a statement.

Air Zermatt reported that three bodies were found on an avalanche cone, and two more were discovered nearby on a snowfield.

The Rimpfischhorn, a 4,199-metre (13,776-foot) mountain that lies east of Zermatt, near the Italian border, is popular with backcountry skiers. Last year, five cross-country skiers found dead near Zermatt.