Canadian soldier missing, presumed dead in Swiss avalanche: Armed Forces

By The Canadian Press on April 7, 2024.

A Canadian soldier is presumed dead after he went missing while on leave in Switzerland, the Armed Forces say. Capt. Sean Thomas is seen in an undated photo published to social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. Thomas is believed to have died in an avalanche in an off-piste area near to the famed Matterhorn peak. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Department of National Defence, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

OTTAWA – The Canadian military says a soldier is presumed dead after being caught in an avalanche while on leave in Switzerland.

A statement from the Armed Forces says Capt. Sean Thomas went missing in the slide on April 1.

Local authorities had reported that three people were killed in an off-piste area of the Riffelberg, above the resort and below the famed Matterhorn peak.

The military says Thomas joined the Armed Forces in 2018 and he’d been deployed to Jordan last November as part of the Canadian Training Assistance Team.

He was set to return home next month.

No other Canadian Armed Forces members were in the area at the time of the slide.