Another mountaineer dies on the Matterhorn in southern Switzerland
A mountaineer died on Friday while descending the Matterhorn when he fell 800 metres onto a glacier. Two other climbers lost their lives last week on the famous peak near Zermatt in southern Switzerland.
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The climber, who was probably alone, was at an altitude of around 4,200 meters on the north face when he fell for unknown reasons. The official identification of the body has not yet been confirmed, police said.
Last Wednesday, two more mountaineers died in a fall from a height of over 1,000 meters from the Matterhorn. The team had set out from a mountain hut on Wednesday morning to climb the 4,478-meter-high peak.
+ Two mountaineers die after 1,000-meter fall from the Matterhorn
When they did not return from their tour as planned, a search operation was launched. During a reconnaissance flight, the bodies of the two climbers were discovered on the north face of the mountain.
+ Read more: The legacy of the MatterhornExternal link
The two bodies have not yet been formally identified, a spokesman for the Valais police told the German Press Agency (DPA). Investigations into the cause of the accident are also still ongoing.
The landlord of the Hörnli Hut, where the two mountaineers stayed overnight, reported that a thunderstorm had come up just a few hours after they set off on Friday. “It must have caught them,” he told DPA.
Translated from German by DeepL/SRF/sb
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