Bodies of 2 hikers missing for decades in Swiss Alps turn up as glacier melts

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GENEVA (AP) — The bodies of two Belgian mountaineers who went missing in the Swiss Alps more than three decades ago have been found, officials said.

Police in the southwestern Valais region, which has a database of people listed as missing over the last century, said the retreat of glaciers has led to the emergence of remains of people who went missing decades earlier.

Late last month, a hiker discovered human remains that turned up following the melting of the Trift glacier south of the city of Lucerne, prompting a recovery operation, the regional government said Wednesday.

DNA tests conducted at a Valais hospital determined that the remains were those of two Belgian hikers, aged 39 and 41 at the time, who went missing near the Weissmies mountain — dozens of kilometers (miles) to the south — in 1992.

Such discoveries are nothing new but have become more frequent as Switzerland's glaciers have melted at an increasing rate.

Three years ago, DNA tests confirmed that a body found on a Swiss glacier near the Matterhorn was that of a German mountaineer who disappeared in 1986.

Many scientists blame global warming for a recent surge in glacier melt in Switzerland and beyond.