On July 26, a hiker discovered human remains exposed by the retreating Trift Glacier south of Lucerne in the Swiss Alps. Swiss authorities launched a recovery operation.
DNA tests conducted at a Valais hospital confirmed Wednesday that the remains belonged to two Belgian mountaineers, aged 39 and 41 at the time of their disappearance, who went missing near the Weissmies mountain in 1992. After 34 years, their families have an answer.
The discovery is heartbreaking and increasingly common. Switzerland's Valais regional government maintains a database of people listed as missing since 1925, primarily in the high mountains and rivers.
As Switzerland's glaciers shrink at an accelerating rate, they are releasing remains preserved for decades beneath the ice.
Three years ago, DNA testing confirmed that a body found on a glacier near the Matterhorn was a German mountaineer who had vanished in 1986.
The speed of the melt is alarming. After extreme heat in June and July 2026, the Rhone Glacier lost more than four meters of ice in a single month, roughly 10 centimeters per day.
Swiss glacier monitoring scientists are warning that 2026 could rival 2022, which produced the worst ice loss ever recorded in Switzerland. Rock buried under glacial ice for a millennium is now visible in portions of the Alps.