Melting glacier leads to recovery of German mountain climber's body who went missing 37 years ago

Climbers hiking along the Theodul Glacier in Zermatt on July 12 discovered human remains and several pieces of equipment, police in the Valais canton said in a statement on Thursday as quoted by CNN.

“DNA analysis enabled the identification of a mountain climber who had been missing since 1986,” police said in a statement. “In September 1986, a German climber, who was 38 at the time, had been reported missing after not returning from a hike.”

Police said the search for the missing climber remained unsuccessful at that time.

The climber’s remains underwent a forensic analysis at Valais Hospital, allowing experts to link them to the 1986 disappearance, police told CNN.

Authorities released a photograph of a lone hiking boot with red laces sticking out of the snow, along with some hiking equipment that had belonged to the missing person.

“The recession of the glaciers increasingly brings to light missing alpinists who were reported missing several decades ago,” police concluded in the statement.