GENEVA (NEWSnet/AP) — Five cross-country skiers were found dead along a high Alpine ridge after going missing over the weekend near Switzerland’s famed Matterhorn, Swiss police said Monday.

A search for the sixth person continues.

The commander of Valais regional police told a news conference in Sion, Switzerland, that six skiers set out in “relatively good” conditions on Saturday but that the situation deteriorated quickly. They were on a route between the resort town of Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn, and the village of Arolla, near the border with Italy.

Rescue authorities had already announced a search on Sunday in difficult weather conditions.

Officials said five of the six skiers were from a family from the Valais region, and a sixth person who lived in Fribourg in western Switzerland. They were aged between 21 and 58, without providing names or further details.

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