Bodies of 2 hikers missing for decades in Swiss Alps turn up after glacier melts

The remains of two Belgian mountaineers who vanished in the Swiss Alps over three decades ago have been discovered, officials announced. The government of Valais, a southwestern region with a database of missing persons from the past century, revealed that the melting of glaciers had unearthed human remains. In late September, a hiker stumbled upon skeletal remains following the retreat of the Trift glacier, prompting a recovery effort.

DNA testing conducted at a Valais hospital confirmed that the remains belonged to a 39-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman. The two were hiking near the Weissmies mountain when they went missing in 1992, located several dozen kilometers south of Lucerne. While such discoveries are not uncommon, they have become more frequent as Switzerland's glaciers have melted at an accelerating pace.

In 2019, DNA tests identified a body found on a Swiss glacier near the Matterhorn as that of a German mountaineer who had gone missing in 1986. Scientists attribute this surge in glacier melt to global warming.