Five skiers found dead near luxury Swiss resort

The bodies of five skiers have been found near Switzerland’s luxury resort of Zermatt.

Emergency services were alerted a day earlier to some abandoned skis at an altitude of about 4,000m in the Rimpfischhorn mountain area, the prosecutors' office in Canton Valais said.

Rescue workers found the bodies near the Adlergletscher glacier, after air and ground searches in the area in southwest Switzerland near the border with northern Italy.

The identities of the five have not been confirmed yet. An investigation is underway.

The Rimpfischhorn is a 4,199-metre (13,776-foot) mountain near the Italian border, and is popular with backcountry skiers.