Bodies of two hikers missing for decades found after Swiss glacier melts
The bodies of two Belgian mountaineers who vanished in the Swiss Alps in 1992 have been found after the retreating Trift Glacier exposed their remains, Swiss police have said. A hiker discovered the bodies on 26 July, and DNA analysis has since confirmed their identities; police say the case highlights how the accelerating melt of Switzerland's glaciers, widely linked to climate change, is increasingly bringing long-missing people to light.
The men, aged 39 and 41 when they disappeared near the Weissmies mountain in the Saas Valley, were found south of Lucerne, with their bodies later transferred to a hospital in Sion for formal identification. Switzerland's glaciers shrank by a quarter in the decade to 2025 according to Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, following record ice loss in 2022 and 2023, and a similar case emerged in 2023 when remains near the Matterhorn were identified as a German climber missing since 1986. Regional authorities maintain a missing persons database dating back to 1925, most of whom vanished in mountains, rivers or lakes.
- Two Belgian hikers missing since 1992 found in Swiss glacier melt
- DNA confirmed identities of men who died near Weissmies mountain
- Glacier retreat, linked to climate change, keeps exposing old remains
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Switzerland's Alps are dotted with glaciers that have, for centuries, kept a grim record of people who went missing on the mountains. As global temperatures rise, these glaciers are retreating and thinning faster than before, occasionally uncovering the remains of climbers and hikers lost decades ago.
This particular case involves two Belgian mountaineers who disappeared in 1992 near the Weissmies mountain, a peak in the Saas Valley in the Swiss Alps. Their bodies lay hidden in the ice for more than 30 years until melting exposed them, allowing Swiss police to identify the men through DNA testing.
Such discoveries are becoming less rare. Switzerland's glaciers have lost roughly a quarter of their volume over the past decade, and authorities keep a missing persons database stretching back a century, most entries relating to people who vanished in mountains, rivers or lakes. Cases like this one illustrate how climate-driven ice loss is slowly bringing old mysteries back to the surface.