British tourist killed during skiing accident in Swiss Alps

A British skier tragically lost his life after a into a river after an uncontrolled descent off a and across farmland. The 54-year-old was rescued from the water near the village of Grindelwald on April 11 by farmworkers who alerted . He was then airlifted to a hospital in Bern. Authorities confirmed that he succumbed to multiple injuries in the hospital the next day, on April 12.

The skier, whose identity has not been disclosed, had been on an authorised run from the Kleine Scheidegg pass, at 6,800 feet high, when he unexpectedly veered off the piste. It is believed that he lost control, resulting in a crash off the run and over nearby farmland close to the Rychenbach Stream.

The Rychenbach Stream, or Reichenbachfall, is a dramatic waterfall located near Meiringen in Switzerland's Bernese Oberland. Plunging nearly 250 metres from the Alps, it is fed by glacial meltwater and tumbles into the Aare Valley below.

The stream gained global fame as the fictional site of Sherlock Holmes's climactic struggle with Professor Moriarty in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Final Problem.

Visitors can reach the falls by funicular railway, which has operated since 1899.

Despite its literary fame, the Rychenbach remains a striking natural spectacle in its own right, particularly during spring and summer when the snowmelt is strongest.

Monday's tragedy is not the first in recent years.

In 2023, a 35-year-old Austrian man died while canyoning in the Claro region of Ticino, falling approximately eight meters and colliding with rocks during an outing along the Censo stream.

Earlier, in 2012, two women-a 24-year-old Belgian guide and a 23-year-old German tourist-lost their lives in the Fallenbach canyon in St Gallen after a sudden rise in water levels due to heavy rain caught their group off guard during a canyoneering expedition.

Express.co.uk has contacted the Foreign Office for comment about the latest fatality.

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