The body of a hiker who went missing 37 years ago has been found in a thawing glacier near the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.
According to ABC News, the body was identified as that of a 38-year-old German mountaineer who went missing in September 1986, the Valais cantonal police in Switzerland said in a press release.
The hiker was not identified by police.
The body was discovered on July 12 by climbers who also discovered “several pieces of equipment” on the glacier, authorities said.
A photo published by police showed the man’s belongings — climbing ropes, a gray cloth and a singular black boot with crimson laces — well preserved from years in the ice and snow, The Washington Post reported.
“The entire discovery was transported to Sion, to the forensic medicine department of the Valais Hospital, to be examined there in collaboration with the forensic identification section of the Valais cantonal police,” police said in their statement announcing the grisly discovery. “A DNA comparison has established that it was indeed the mountaineer who has been missing since September 1986.”
The police went on to say that other bodies are being found as the glacier is receding.
“The bodies of mountaineers whose disappearance was reported decades ago are increasingly turning up due to the receding glaciers,” law enforcement said.
The Post reported that bodies of missing hikers had been found in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
