Missing in Tyrol since 1967 Accidental ski tourer identified by DNA comparison
On an Easter Monday almost 60 years ago, a skier from Germany disappeared in the ice in Tyrol. Now a discovery has brought certainty.
10.01.2025, 18:46
10.01.2025, 18:50
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- In 1967, a skier from Germany disappeared in the ice in Tyrol.
- Bone fragments have now been found and identified.
- While some of the bones came from animals, the leg and foot were matched to the missing person using DNA.
Almost 60 years after a German man fell into a crevasse in Tyrol, his remains have been found and identified. The man from the federal state of Baden-Württemberg died in an accident in 1967 at the age of 30 during a ski hike in the Ötztal Alps.
According to the Austrian police, several bones and a lower leg with foot were discovered last August at around 2,500 meters above sea level near Sölden. The discovery site in a valley lies hundreds of meters below the glacier area called Wasserfallferner.
Certainty through DNA analysis
The remains were examined by a forensic institute in Innsbruck. The result: while some of the bones came from animals, the leg and foot were matched to the missing man using DNA.
The man came from Schwäbisch Gmünd. According to the police, there are no living relatives.
Search operation aborted in 1967
The skier fell into an ice crevasse on Easter Monday 1967 while climbing the Seelenkogel on the Wasserfallferner, as the Austrian news agency APA reported at the time. Another winter sports enthusiast raised the alarm and a major search operation was launched. Fog and snowfall made the operation difficult.
Eventually, the rescuers discovered the site of the crash. All they found at the edge of the precipice was an ice axe. The rescuers were able to reach a depth of around 30 meters. From then on, the crevasse became too narrow to descend any further. The search was called off without success.