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German corpse discovered in Swiss glacier

A helicopter view shows the Lagginhorn Mountain, near Saas-Grund, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 3, 2012.
The remains were found by two climbers attempting the Lagginhorn mountain, near Saas-Grund in Switzerland Keystone

The remains have been found of a German hiker who died 30 years ago trying to climb a mountain in the Swiss Alps. Police said the body was “partially imprisoned in the ice”. 

The body was discovered last Tuesday by two climbers who had set off up the 4,010-metre Lagginhorn, said police in canton Valais on Wednesday. Having reached the Lagginjoch at 3,499 metres, they decided to turn round owing to poor weather. 

They then discovered “a hand and two boots” above a cable car station, the police said. 

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The following day the remains were flown by helicopter to the Institute of Medical Education at the University of Bern, where the victim was formally identified as a German citizen, born in 1943, who went missing on August 11, 1987. 

Switzerland’s glaciers have had a busy summer. Two weeks ago the frozen, mummified remains of a Swiss couple were found in a glacier near the Swiss ski resort of Glacier 3000. They were farmers who had gone missing 75 years ago.

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