The remains of two Belgian mountaineers who disappeared in the Swiss Alps more than three decades ago have been identified after emerging from the melting Trift Glacier, Swiss authorities announced on Wednesday.

The discovery was made on July 26, when a hiker spotted two bodies on the Trift Glacier in the southern Swiss canton of Valais (Wallis), near the Italian border. Rescue teams recovered the remains and transported them to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Valais Hospital in Sion for examination.

DNA testing later confirmed the identities of the victims as two Belgian climbers, aged 39 and 41, who vanished while climbing in the Weissmies region in 1992.

Glacier Retreat Reveals Decades-Old Mystery

According to Valais cantonal police, the discovery was made possible by the continued retreat of the Trift Glacier, which has been shrinking in recent years as temperatures rise.

Authorities noted that melting glaciers are increasingly exposing the remains of climbers and hikers who disappeared decades ago, bringing long-unsolved missing-person cases to a close.

The Valais police maintain records of mountain and river disappearances dating back to 1925, many involving people who were never found due to the region's challenging alpine terrain.

Climate Change Behind Growing Number of Discoveries

Scientists say climate change has accelerated glacier melt across the Alps and other mountain regions, uncovering objects and human remains that had been preserved beneath the ice for decades.

In recent years, several similar discoveries have been made:

• In 2025, the remains of a British researcher who disappeared in Antarctica in 1959 were found near a retreating glacier on King George Island.

• Around the same time, a man who vanished in 1997 was recovered from a melting glacier in Pakistan after nearly three decades.

• In 2024, the preserved body of an American mountaineer was discovered in Peru, 22 years after he disappeared during a climbing expedition.

• In 2023, Swiss authorities recovered the remains of a German climber who had been missing since 1986.

• In 2017, melting glaciers in the Alps revealed the bodies of several climbers, including a British mountaineer who vanished in 1971 and a Swiss couple who disappeared in 1942.

The latest discovery once again highlights how the rapid retreat of glaciers is helping solve long-standing missing-person cases while also illustrating the profound environmental changes taking place in alpine regions around the world.