Asylum family almost freezes in mountains

A Ukrainian family of six, lightly clothed and some of whom were barefoot, has been rescued from an icy Swiss mountainside.

The family of asylum seekers, which included four children, had got lost near Monte Lema in the Italian-speaking southern canton of Ticino, while illegally trying to cross into Switzerland.

According to the Ticino police, the family was saved by the fact they were carrying a walkie-talkie. Their appeals for help in English were picked up by an Italian amateur radio enthusiast, who alerted the authorities in Ticino.

The Ukrainians, a mother of 47, her 21- year-old son, and four other children between the ages of nine and 15, were found in the late afternoon and taken to safety by helicopter. Three were suffering from frostbite.

It is reminiscent of a similar case nearly 20 years ago when a smuggler took a Kurdish asylum seeker family across the Splügen Pass in freezing conditions. The seven-year-old son later died from exhaustion.

This was made into a Swiss film, “Reise der Hoffnung” (Journey of Hope), which won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Film in 1991.