DNA Testing Identifies Remains of Belgian Climbers Lost in Swiss Alps Since 1992
Forensic analysis in Sion identifies two Belgian mountaineers lost for 32 years near the Weissmies region.
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Forensic investigators in Switzerland have officially resolved a 32-year-old missing persons case after DNA testing confirmed that human remains recently exposed by melting alpine ice belong to two Belgian mountaineers who vanished in 1992, authorities announced Wednesday.
A hiker encountered the remains on the Trift Glacier on July 26 as thawing ice uncovered them, according to law enforcement officials in Switzerland’s Valais canton.
Search teams retrieved the remains from the mountain and dispatched them to a specialized forensic medicine laboratory at a hospital in Sion to perform identification procedures.
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A view of the Trift suspension bridge at the Trift Glacier in Valais, Switzerland, on Jan. 2, 2018. (BlueRed/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
DNA testing confirmed the genetic material belonged to two Belgian men who went missing during a 1992 climb in the Weissmies region, police stated. The men were aged 39 and 41 when they disappeared.
Valais police maintain detailed archives of unresolved missing-person files extending back to 1925, many of which involve individuals who vanished across dangerous high-altitude routes or in bodies of water.
Glaciological studies show that Swiss glaciers lost roughly 10% of their total volume between 2022 and 2023 alone, marking the sharpest two-year drop on record. As massive ice sheets recede to unprecedented levels, high-altitude alpine zones are increasingly surrendering long-held mysteries, from decades-old climbing gear to frozen human remains.
The glacial ice avalanche of the Trift Glacier above the village in Saas-Grund, Valais, Switzerland, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. (Dominic Steinmann/Keystone via AP, File)
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Police noted that as glacial fields continuously shrink, items and remains entombed deep beneath thick ice for several decades are regularly being pushed to the surface.
Similar discoveries have surfaced across Swiss mountain ranges in recent years. In 2023, DNA testing positively identified a body retrieved from a glacier near the Matterhorn as a German mountaineer who disappeared in 1986.
Regional police shared an image of Trift Glacier near Saas-Grund, Valais, Switzerland. (Valais Cantonal Police)
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As accelerating ice melt transforms the topography of the Swiss Alps, local law enforcement agencies continue systematically cross-referencing emerging physical evidence against open cold-case files stored in their regional databases.
