Seyma Erkul Dayanc
19 August 2026•Update: 19 August 2026
The bodies of two Belgian mountaineers who disappeared in the Swiss Alps 34 years ago have been identified after being exposed by melting ice, Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.
A hiker found the remains on a glacier in southern Switzerland near the Italian border in July, according to Valais regional police.
The bodies were taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Valais Hospital in Sion, where DNA testing confirmed they belonged to the climbers who disappeared in the Weissmies area in 1992, said police.
The men were 39 and 41 years old when they disappeared.
Valais police keep records of people reported missing in the region dating to 1925, including those who disappeared in mountainous areas and along rivers.
The melting of glaciers has increasingly exposed the remains of climbers who had been trapped in ice for years or decades, according to ANSA.
Last year, the remains of a Swiss mountaineer who disappeared in 1994 were found on a glacier on the Ober Gabelhorn in Valais.