Human remains found in melting ice on Swiss glacier identified as 32-year-old British hiker who went missing 50 years ago

Human remains found in melting ice on a Swiss glacier have been identified as those of a British hiker who went missing in 1974.

The 32-year-old explorer, whose name is unknown, was reported missing in December 1974 and his body was found in the Welsh Alps on September 5 last year.

Since the remains were discovered, officials have been working with British police and diplomats to establish his identity.

The Swiss authorities keep a list of more than 300 people who have gone missing in the mountains since 1925.

Melting glaciers have uncovered a number of bodies in recent years, including the remains of a couple who went missing in 1942 and were discovered in 2017.

The remains were found near the Swiss-Italian border in September 2022 and officials have been working with British authorities to identify the body

Valais Canton Police said in a statement on Thursday: “Remains found at the scene indicate that they may be those of a man who had been reported missing from the Grand Combin area since December 31, 1974.

“DNA identification in collaboration with the British police led to confirmation of the missing person’s identity.

“This is an English citizen who was 32 at the time of his disappearance.”

Police say he was found as part of a grim search for human remains that have been missing for decades and are now vulnerable to global warming.

Due to climate change and melting ice, bodies are now found trapped in the ice

Stockji Glacier in Switzerland where the body of a 27-year-old German climber who went missing in August 1990 was found.

A spokesperson explains: “As part of the search for missing persons, the canton police are constantly looking for new possible leads.

“The melting of the glacier sent agents of the cantonal police to the Corbassière glacier in cooperation with the air force.”

Swiss glaciers have shrunk by about 50 percent in just 85 years, exposing the long-buried remains of missing climbers and hikers.

In another case, the remains were found on July 26, 2022 on the Stockji Glacier in Zermatt, Switzerland, and have been linked to a 27-year-old German mountaineer who was reported missing in August 1990.

In 2017, the bodies of a Swiss couple who never returned from milking the cows in a pasture near their home in 1942 were found mummified.

The couple’s youngest daughter – they shared six children – said that when the bodies were found, the family never stopped looking for them.

“We have been searching for them non-stop all our lives. We thought we could one day give them the funeral they deserve,” she told Le Matin.