{"id":117890,"date":"2026-08-20T11:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/117890\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:24:08","slug":"bodies-of-climbers-missing-for-three-decades-in-swiss-alps-uncovered-as-glacier-melts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/117890\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodies of climbers missing for three decades in Swiss Alps uncovered as glacier melts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The bodies of two Belgian mountaineers who went missing in the Swiss Alps more than three decades ago have been found, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Late last month, a hiker discovered human remains that had been revealed following the melting of the Trift glacier, south of the city of Lucerne, prompting a recovery operation, the regional government said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">DNA tests conducted at a Valais hospital determined that the remains were those of two Belgian hikers, aged 39 and 41 at the time, who went missing near the Weissmies mountain \u2014 dozens of kilometres to the south in 1992.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Local police have a database of people listed as missing dating back to 1925, primarily in high mountains and rivers.<\/p>\n<p>The aftermath of the Birch Glacier collapse is visible in Blatten, Switzerland, 2025. Credit: AP<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\"><a class=\"qNUzV q7LZa\" data-testid=\"next-link-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itv.com\/news\/2026-06-15\/body-of-green-boots-climber-on-everest-for-30-years-to-be-brought-home\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Similar discoveries have become more frequent<\/a> as Switzerland&#8217;s glaciers have melted at an increasing rate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Three years ago, DNA tests confirmed that a body found on a Swiss glacier near the Matterhorn was that of a German mountaineer who disappeared in 1986.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Many scientists blame global warming for a recent surge in glacier melt in Switzerland and beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bodies of two Belgian mountaineers who went missing in the Swiss Alps more than three decades ago&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-117890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117127588544655590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}