Swiss police are searching for six skiers who disappeared during a ski trip from the town of Zermatt in the Swiss Alps near the Matterhorn.

The group, which includes five people from the same family, disappeared around today (March 10) and traveled to Arora along the Swiss-Italian border.

Police said raging storms and the risk of avalanches in the southern Alps had kept helicopters and rescue workers from accessing the area.

The skiers were aged between 21 and 58, and one family was from the Valais region of Switzerland, while the other was from the Friborg region of the country.

Zermatt is a popular mountain resort famous for its skiing, attracting tourists from all over the world.

Anjan Truffer, head of Zermatt’s air rescue service, told the BBC that the weather was so bad that “flying was not an option” and that “the wind was very strong, the snow was very heavy and the avalanche danger was high, Visibility is zero”.

Mr Truffaut said he believed the group – whose identities have not been released – had been overwhelmed by the bad weather.

He said he did not believe they were hit by an avalanche because they disappeared on a section of the Arora route in Zermatt where the risk of avalanches is low.

Mr Truffaut said the group’s last signal was recorded overnight and “was not verbal”.

This allows rescue services to have an overview of their location, HR said.

The route from Zermatt to Arora is part of the famous 120 km “Haute Route” from Zermatt to Chamonix, which is very popular but is only suitable for the most experienced skiers and may It will take several days to complete.

Rescue services said that despite temperatures of -16 degrees Celsius and winds of up to 80 km/h, skiers had a good chance of survival if they could dig themselves a snow cave.

Additional reporting by Reuters.