A mountain guide has found the body of a man believed to have died more than 20 years ago on a glacier in Austria, police announced on Tuesday.
The guide discovered the body last Friday on the Schlatenkees glacier in East Tyrol, at an altitude of approximately 2,900 meters, and notified the police, who recovered the body by helicopter.
Police added that the man was believed to have had an accident on the glacier in 2001 and was traveling with ski equipment.
Money, a bank card and a driver’s license were found inside a backpack next to the body, which police have tentatively identified as a 37-year-old Austrian.
DNA results will provide a definitive identification and will be available in a few weeks, police added.
As glaciers melt due to climate change, objects and bodies once thought lost are revealed, glaciologist Lindsey Nicholson of the University of Innsbruck told the CNN last month after the remains of a German climber who disappeared for 37 years were discovered in Switzerland.
“Glaciers are experiencing a long-term trend of melting,” Nicholson said, adding that the trend was likely to continue, with “years of little snow” contributing to the problem.
“The reduction in the amount of snow is also partly linked to the change in temperature, because what happens is that part of the precipitation that would have come in the form of snow, now comes in the form of rain. It doesn’t help glaciers, it works against them,” she added.
Even if ambitious climate targets are met, up to half of the world’s glaciers could be gone by the end of the century, according to recent research. The Schlatenkees Glacier, where the most recent body was found, retreated by an unprecedented 60 to 100 meters between 2019 and 2022, according to Greenpeace.
“If we continue with the emissions that we are transmitting now, we will be looking at a largely thawed Alpine region for generations to come – and that is very sad,” warned Nicholson.
Such a scenario would have far-reaching impacts. Glaciers play a vital role in providing fresh water to nearly 2 billion people and are also a major driver of sea level rise.
“Some regions of the world are much more dependent on glacial mountains than we are here – in some cases they are much more vulnerable than the Alps,” added Nicholson.
See also: Body of climber missing for 37 years is found in the Swiss Alps
Source: CNN Brasil
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