German billionaire missing in Swiss Alps for five days

  • Karl-Erivan Haub, the heir to the Tengelmann supermarket chain, went missing while skiing off-piste near Switzerland's famous Klein Matterhorn on Saturday.
  • A Tengelmann spokesperson told the BBC that a "full-speed" search for Haub had begun on Wednesday.
  • The 58-year-old has been in charge of the firm, which owns a number of supermarket brands in Germany as well as central Europe, for almost 20 years.
Picture taken on July 7, 2016 shows Karl-Erivan Haub, billionaire chief of Germany's sprawling Tengelmann retail group, during a press conference in Muelheim an der Ruhr, western Germany. Haub has gone missing while skiing in the Swiss Alps, the Tengelmann company said on April 11, 2018, although searchers have not given up hope of finding him.
ROLAND WEIHRAUCH | AFP | Getty Images
Picture taken on July 7, 2016 shows Karl-Erivan Haub, billionaire chief of Germany's sprawling Tengelmann retail group, during a press conference in Muelheim an der Ruhr, western Germany. Haub has gone missing while skiing in the Swiss Alps, the Tengelmann company said on April 11, 2018, although searchers have not given up hope of finding him.

Rescue teams continued searching for one of Germany's richest men on Thursday, after the billionaire CEO went missing in the Swiss Alps over the weekend.

Karl-Erivan Haub, the heir to the Tengelmann supermarket chain, went missing while skiing off-piste near Switzerland's famous Klein Matterhorn on Saturday.

Haub was reportedly skiing alone as he trained for a biennial endurance race before he then failed to return from an area thought to be close to Europe's highest cable car station.

A Tengelmann spokesperson told the BBC that a "full-speed" search for Haub had begun on Wednesday.

Arrival Of The Klein Matterhorn Cable Car, Ski Resort Of Zermatt, Switzerland.
Marka | UIG via Getty Images
Arrival Of The Klein Matterhorn Cable Car, Ski Resort Of Zermatt, Switzerland.

The 58-year-old has been in charge of the firm, which owns a number of supermarket brands in Germany as well as central Europe, for almost 20 years.

'Prepared' for bad news

In a letter published in German newspaper Handelsblatt on Tuesday, the Tengelmann boss' brother, Christian Haub, said he was "prepared" for bad news.

He added that while he was still hopeful his brother — who was an experienced skier and mountaineer — could still be found, the Tengelmann business would "continue to run smoothly and orderly" in the meantime.