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  Life   More Features  18 Jul 2017  Bodies of couple lost on 1942 found preserved in glacier

Bodies of couple lost on 1942 found preserved in glacier

AFP
Published : Jul 18, 2017, 7:31 pm IST
Updated : Jul 18, 2017, 7:31 pm IST

Bodies discovered in southern Switzerland are believed to be remains of couple who had gone missing for 75 years.

This handout picture distributed on July 18, 2017 by the Swiss cable cars company Glacier 3000 shows the mummified remains of a Swiss Couple who went missing 75 years ago and who were found in a glacier in the Diablerets mountains, in southern Switzerland. (Photo: AFP)
 This handout picture distributed on July 18, 2017 by the Swiss cable cars company Glacier 3000 shows the mummified remains of a Swiss Couple who went missing 75 years ago and who were found in a glacier in the Diablerets mountains, in southern Switzerland. (Photo: AFP)

Geneva: A couple that disappeared in the Alps 75 years ago has been found preserved in a receding glacier, ending decades of uncertainty for their seven children, Swiss media reported on July 18.

The bodies were found lying near each other in the Diablerets massif in southern Switzerland, along with backpacks, a bottle, a book and a watch, according to Le Matin daily.

The head of the Glacier 3000 ski resort, Bernard Tschannen, told Le Matin that the bodies were found on July 13.

"It was a man and a woman wearing clothes from the last (world) war", Tschannen was quoted as saying. "The ice preserved them perfectly and their belongings were intact".

Tschannen told the paper that the couple had likely fallen into a crevasse.

A DNA search has been planned to definitively establish their identities, but Le Matin quoted Marceline Dumoulin as saying she believed the remains were of her parents, who went missing on August 15, 1942.

Marcelin Dumoulin, a 40-year-old shoemaker at the time, and his wife Francine, a schoolteacher aged 37, had left their village of Chandolin to graze their cattle in the mountainside.

Searches were carried out for more than two months but ultimately the seven orphans -- five boys and two girls -- were placed in foster homes.

"We spent our whole lives searching for them, without stopping. We never thought we'd be able to give them the funeral they deserved," Marceline Dumoulin, who was four when her parents went missing, told Le Matin.

Tags: geneva, swiss couple, glacier, bodies preserved