Spectacular cases

Tyrol’s mountains released these dead after years

The German had an accident in the Ötztal Alps 57 years ago. The small picture shows the place where the bones were found.(Bild: Polizei, Peter Freiberger)

Bone parts discovered in the Ötztal Alps in the summer of 2024 have now been attributed to a ski tourer who died in an accident 57 (!) years ago. The Tyrolean Alpine Police are aware of other spectacular cases of human bones found in the mountains. Not all mysteries are solved.

Sometimes it takes many years before the mortal remains of people who have died or disappeared on the mountain somehow turn up. As a rule, it is the receding glaciers that repeatedly uncover body parts.