Remains of missing climber found on Swiss glacier after 31 years

The Ober Gabelhorn mountain at 4063m high is a draw for experienced climbers in the Swiss alpine region, which features the Matterhorn. Photo / 123rf

The remains of a climber who went missing in 1994 have been found on a Swiss glacier, police said today.

Climbers ascending the Ober Gabelhorn mountain discovered human remains on October 15, the southern Wallis region’s cantonal police said in a statement.

After receiving the report from the mountaineers, officers reached the site by helicopter to collect the remains and personal effects from the Ober Gabelhorn glacier.

Two climbers disappeared in the area on November 4, 1994.

“One of the two individuals had already been found in 2000. The discovery of the second mountaineer’s remains has now fully solved the disappearance of the two men,” the police said.

“The investigation led to the identification of the second missing person. He is a Swiss citizen born in 1969.”

The bodies of missing Alpinists occasionally turn up on Switzerland’s glaciers.

In 2022, two human skeletons were found on glaciers in Wallis.

In July 2017, the Tsanfleuron glacier turned up the bodies of a couple who disappeared in 1942.

The bones of three brothers who died in 1926 were found on the Aletsch glacier in June 2012.

And in 2022 the wreckage of a plane that crashed in 1968 was discovered on the Aletsch glacier.

The bodies of the three people on board were recovered soon after the crash but the wreckage was left.

The ascent of the Ober Gabelhorn, 4063m high, is highly prized by experienced mountaineers.

-Agence France-Presse