German billionaire missing in Swiss Alps

THE billionaire chief of Germany’s Tengelmann retail group has gone missing while skiing in the Swiss Alps, the company said yesterday, although searchers have not given up hope of finding him.

A company spokesperson said that “search teams on the scene are doing everything they can” to find Karl-erivan Haub, 58, after he failed to return from a ski excursion on Saturday.

Christian Haub, who manages the Tengelmann group with Karl-erivan, wrote in a letter to employees: “My brother is a very experienced ski mountaineer, so despite the time that has passed since [his disappearance] we aren’t giving up hope of finding him soon.”

Mr Haub set off at a height of 3,800 metres (12,470 feet) at the peak of the Klein Matterhorn mountain. It was reported that he was training for the “Patrouille”, a ski mountaineering race organised by the Swiss army.