Body found near Switzerland’s Matterhorn identified as German hiker missing since 1986

DNA tests have confirmed that the body recently found on a glacier southeast of the famed Matterhorn peak is that of a German mountaineer who disappeared 37 years ago, police in southwestern Switzerland said Thursday.

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Increasing glacier melt, which many scientists blame on global warming, has spurred a recent increase in discoveries of the remains of hikers, skiers and other Alpinists who went missing decades ago.

Regional police said the 38-year-old German went missing in September 1986 and that searches at the time did not find him.

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On July 12, mountaineers on the Theodul glacier near the Italian border found the remains of the man, which were then transported to a nearby hospital for analysis. Genetic tests confirmed the man’s identity, which was not made public by the regional police.

Swiss climatologists and other experts say the country’s glaciers have been melting at accelerated rates in recent years, attributing it in part to climate change caused by human activity.