Police in the Swiss canton of Wallis have confirmed the discovery of two Belgian climbers who vanished 34 years ago. The remains were recovered from the Trift Glacier in southern Switzerland, near the Italian border, after they were exposed by melting ice.
A hiker first reported finding the two bodies on the glacier on July 26. Following the discovery, the remains were transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Wallis Hospital in Sion for official identification. According to a police statement released on Wednesday, a direct comparison of DNA profiles confirmed the bodies belong to two mountaineers who went missing in the Weissmies region in 1992. At the time of their disappearance, the two men were 39 and 41 years old.
The Wallis police department maintains an ongoing list of missing persons that dates back to 1925, which includes individuals who disappeared in high mountain terrain and rivers. Officials noted that the retreat of glaciers due to climate change frequently leads to the discovery of remains belonging to people who went missing several decades ago.
This incident is part of a growing trend of bodies being released by receding ice across the globe. Last year, the bones of a Swiss mountaineer missing since 1994 were located on a glacier on the Ober Gabelhorn mountain, also within Wallis. Similar discoveries have occurred internationally, including the remains of a British researcher found in Antarctica in August 2025 who had been missing since 1959, and a climber found on a melting glacier in Pakistan 28 years after disappearing.
Other recent recoveries include an American mountaineer found in Peru in July 2024, 22 years after he went missing, and a German climber discovered on a Swiss glacier in 2023 who had been missing since 1986. In 2017, Italian mountain rescue crews recovered remains on Mont Blanc's southern face likely dating to the 1980s or 1990s, while that same year, a British climber missing since 1971 was identified in the Swiss Alps. Additionally, a shrinking glacier in Switzerland previously revealed the bodies of a couple who had been missing since 1942.
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Md. Kazi Bijoy is a dedicated tech enthusiast and content creator with a passion for digital innovation. With years of experience in the tech industry, he specializes in breaking down complex topics into easy-to-understand guides. When he isn’t writing, he explores the latest gadgets and researches emerging trends in the digital world.