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Bodies of Climbers Who Vanished 34 Years Ago Found on Melting Glacier in Swiss Alps

DNA testing confirmed the remains of two Belgian climbers missing since 1992 after glacier melt exposed them, police said.

  • On Wednesday, the Valais cantonal police confirmed that DNA testing identified two Belgian climbers whose bodies were discovered on the Trift Glacier 34 years after they vanished in the Swiss Alps.
  • In September 1992, the two men set out from the Weissmies hut aiming to climb the 4,017-metre Weissmies summit, reaching the Almagell hut before being caught by bad weather during their ascent.
  • A hiker reported finding the remains on July 26 in Saas-Grund, prompting a recovery operation that transported the bodies to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Valais Hospital in Sion.
  • Climate change is accelerating the melting of Alpine glaciers, causing the ice to release human remains trapped for decades and leading to the discovery of several missing mountaineers in the region.
  • The Valais cantonal police maintain a list of missing persons dating back to 1925, primarily concerning individuals lost in high mountains or rivers. Last year, another mountaineer who vanished in 1994 was found on the Ober Gabelhorn.
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Center

The melting of the Trift glacier, in the Swiss Alps, has "reemerged" the remains of the bodies of two Belgian mountaineers who disappeared 34 years ago and now found. On July 26,...

·Rome, Italy
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(Berlin=Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Gye-yeon = The bodies of two climbers who went missing 34 years ago have been discovered as glaciers in the Swiss Alps melt, SRF Broadcasting and others reported on the 19th (Hyun...

·Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
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Center

Swiss ice recoil reveals remains of two Belgians lost in 1992; found in Trift in July and identified by DNA after decades of unsuccessful searches

·Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain
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Right

Two bodies have been found in a melting glacier in Switzerland. The remains of climbers who went missing 34 years ago have been recovered from the ice of the Alps.

·Budapest, Hungary
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Lean Right

A hiker locates the bodies of a couple of mountaineers who were lost thirty years ago in a Helvetic area of Saas-Fee.

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Het Laatste Nieuws broke the news in Kobbegem, Belgium on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.
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