Dead body missing for 22 years discovered in Austria’s fastest melting glacier

AUSTRIA: An alpine guide on Austria’s swiftly retreating glacier has discovered remains of an Austrian individual who is believed to have died over two decades ago.

Media sources indicated that the revelation followed similar discoveries of human remains on the same glacier less than two months prior. As climate change accelerated glacier melting, the retreating ice released bodies of mountaineers it had held for extended periods, sometimes spanning years and decades.

Meanwhile, the guide found the corpse at about 2,900 meters (9,500 feet) on the Schlatenkees glacier in Tyrol province, last Friday, as revealed by local police on Tuesday. Adjacent to the remains, a backpack was discovered containing currency, a bank card, and a driver’s license.

The reports said that the authorities suspected the deceased to be a 37-year-old man who perished on the glacier in 2001, and they anticipated DNA results to be available within a “few weeks.”

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Earlier in June, another group of alpinists stumbled upon human remains and ski fragments on the same glacier. The precise age of the remains would be determined once identified, as reported by the police.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Tyrol police Christian Viehweider stated to AFP news agency, “It is rather rare that human remains and an entire corpse are found on a glacier within such a short period of time.”

The Schlatenkees glacier registered the most extensive recorded ice loss in Austria, with 89.5 meters melting away during the reporting period of 2021-2022, as outlined in the annual report of the Austrian Alpine Club.

Furthermore, in July, climbers on Switzerland’s Theodul glacier in the southern region stumbled upon the remains of a mountaineer who had vanished in 1986.