Glacier yields soldiers' bodies after 86 years
August 24, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/23/1093246448074.html?oneclick=true#
The mummified bodies of a group of Austrian soldiers killed in World War I have emerged remarkably intact from a thawing glacier that has preserved them for almost 90 years.
Maurizio Vicenzi, an alpine rescue volunteer, stumbled upon the soldiers, still dressed in their tattered uniforms, about 3500 metres up on the dei Forni glacier, near the Swiss and Austrian borders, on Friday.
It is thought they died in the battle of Punta San Matteo, fought along a 50-kilometre front of glaciers in what is thought to be the highest altitude battle in history.
Local reports differ as to whether there were three or four bodies, but seem to agree that the remains were tangled in a way that suggests that the men may have died or been buried together.
After walking for hours alone looking for memorabilia of the war, Mr Vicenzi, who runs a small museum featuring finds relinquished by thawing glaciers, spotted a "dark stain" 25 metres down a precipitous wall of ice.
When he looked through his binoculars he made out a dark, mummified hand, protruding from clothing in rags.
He said that the soldiers had almost certainly died on September 3, 1918, in one of the many battles fought on the Italian-Austrian front.
The discovery is thought to be the first mummified remains of soldiers to come to light from World War I.
Glacial thawing in the same area of north-eastern Italy, blamed on global warming, revealed several years ago a skeleton of a soldier and remnants of the so-called city of ice, including indications of bunkers, barracks, cells, corridors and storage areas, which Austro-Hungarian troops built inside it.
Similar thawing in the Similaun glacier, in the same region where Friday's discovery was made, led to the discovery in 1991 of Otzi, a hunter who had lived about 5300 years ago.
The Telegraph, London
Why am I not surprised to see this statement?
If we find out they died in a shootout with Otzi, the iceman, this could get very serious.
