At least three people have been killed after an avalanche smashed into a popular Swiss ski resort on Easter Monday, according to police. Authorities confirmed three bodies were found after people went missing in Zermatt, in the southern canton of Valais, on Easter Monday. A fourth person was found with injuries and flown to a nearby hospital. Valais
police said in an April 1 post shared on X, formerly
Twitter , that "several people were swept away" by the avalanche which struck at about 2pm. It was tragically confirmed that three people, including one teenager, had died and that another was injured. "The deceased include a 15-year-old
American, a man and a woman, whose identification has not yet been completed," Wallis police said in a press statement today. "In the case of the female victim, we do not yet have any clues as to the identity." The injured victim is a 20-year-old Swiss man, police added. A screenshot from a handout video from Valais cantonal police from a different incident. Three people died in the avalanche, according to police. ( Image: VALAIS CANTONAL POLICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock) The avalanche was triggered after a section of
SNOW broke off from the ski slopes on Riffelberg and an extensive search of the area was carried out but was later suspended in the evening. Some 45 rescuers took part in searches for the victims, which included eight avalanche dog handlers, 13 rescue specialists as well as 15 firefighters and local ski instructions, according to MailOnline . "It looks as if there are three or four helicopters looking for missing people," a reader told the local outlet Blick . Pictures obtained by the outlet also showed sniffer dogs were used during the search. As of this morning, Zermatt and other parts of Valais have a level three avalanche warning meaning there is "considerable" risk of one occurring. According to Blick, 17 people have died in avalanche accidents across Switzerland so far this winter. Zermatt is located a few miles north-east of the famous Matterhorn, one of Europe's largest mountains. The ski resort is the highest in Europe and is popular with skiing enthusiasts from all across the world . The Mirror has contacted the Valais cantonal police for comment.