Belgian man cross-country skiing in the Swiss Alps has been killed in an avalanche, police said Wednesday.

The 50-year-old had been hit by an avalanche in the southern Swiss canton of Wallis on Tuesday, but poor weather prevented rescue services from finding him until Wednesday, regional police said in a statement.

Before the accident, the man had been skiing with his wife near the Les Louerettes region.
round noon, she had decided to turn back, and he had continued on alone.

When he failed to return, she sounded the alarm.

Rescue workers quickly found a large avalanche measuring 1.5 kilometres in length and 740 metres across (5,000 x 2,400 feet), but could not locate the skier.

They resumed the search on Wednesday, and finally located the man at an altitude of 2,906 metres (9,534 feet), under a blanket of snow, the statement said.