Belgian Climbers’ Bodies Found After 34 Years in Swiss Alps

On August 19, 2026, at 7:34 AM EDT, police announced the discovery of the bodies of two Belgian climbers in the Swiss Alps. These climbers had disappeared 34 years ago, and their bodies were recently uncovered from the melting Trift Glacier.

On July 26, a hiker spotted two bodies on the glacier in southern Switzerland, close to the Italian border. Regional police in Wallis canton, Switzerland, confirmed this discovery. The bodies were transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Wallis Hospital in Sion for identification.

A direct comparison of DNA profiles has formally established that these are two mountaineers who went missing in the Weissmies region in 1992, the police statement explained. The two Belgian men were 39 and 41 at the time of their disappearance.

The Wallis police manage a missing persons list dating back to 1925, with most cases involving high mountains and rivers. They noted, Due to the retreat of glaciers, the remains of people who disappeared in the mountains several decades ago are repeatedly revealed.

Bodies Uncovered by Melting Glaciers

Climate change has accelerated glacier melting, frequently uncovering bodies the ice has concealed for years. Last year, bones of a Swiss climber who vanished in 1994 were found on the Ober Gabelhorn mountain in Wallis.

In August 2025, near a receding glacier on King George Island, Antarctica, the remains of a British researcher missing since 1959 were discovered. Around the same period, a man’s body emerged on a melting glacier in Pakistan, 28 years after he disappeared.

July 2024 saw the recovery of an American mountaineer’s body, 22 years after he vanished on a peak in Peru. In the preceding year, a German climber who vanished in 1986 was found in the Swiss Alps.

In 2017, Italian rescuers retrieved hikers’ remains on Mont Blanc’s southern face, likely from the 1980s or 1990s. Weeks later, a climber missing since 1971 was identified from remains in the Swiss Alps. That year, a receding glacier in Switzerland also revealed the bodies of a couple who vanished in 1942.