The retreating ice of a glacier in the Swiss Alps has uncovered the remains of two Belgian climbers who disappeared more than 30 years ago, officials said Wednesday.
According to police in Switzerland’s Valais canton, a hiker came across the remains on the Trift Glacier on July 26 after melting ice brought them to the surface.
The remains were retrieved by authorities and taken to a forensic medicine institute at a hospital in Sion, where specialists worked to confirm their identities.
The Trift suspension bridge is seen near the Trift Glacier in Valais, Switzerland, on Jan. 2, 2018. (BlueRed/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
DNA analysis determined the remains were those of two Belgian men who went missing in the Weissmies area in 1992, police said. They were 39 and 41 years old at the time of their disappearance.
Valais police said they maintain missing-person files dating back to 1925, with many cases involving people who vanished in alpine terrain or bodies of water.
A glacial ice avalanche from the Trift Glacier is seen above the village of Saas-Grund in Valais, Switzerland, on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. (Dominic Steinmann/Keystone via AP, File)
Police noted that as Swiss glaciers continue to shrink, human remains and other traces long sealed beneath the ice can reappear decades later.
Similar discoveries have been made in Switzerland in recent years. In 2023, DNA testing identified a body found on a glacier near the Matterhorn as a German mountaineer who disappeared in 1986.
Regional police shared an image of Trift Glacier near Saas-Grund, Valais, Switzerland. (Valais Cantonal Police)
Switzerland’s glaciers have been melting at an increasing rate, a trend some scientists have linked to rising global temperatures.
