He had disappeared in 1959 during a mission in Antarctica: the remains of a British researcher were found this year thanks to the melting of ice cream and returned to his family, the British Antarctic Survey (low) revealed on Monday.
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Dennis Bell, a young 25 -year -old meteorologist, fell into a crevasse on a King George Ile glacier, the largest island in the Southern Shetland Archipelago on July 26, 1959.
His remains were found this year by a team of Polish scientists. They resurfaced in the middle of rocks, thanks to the decline of the ice in Antarctica, reported the bottom.
After joining the Royal Air Force for its military service, Dennis Bell had joined the Fids, predecessor of the bottom, as a meteorologist in 1958.
He was immediately assigned on the British base of Admiralty Bay on King George Island, where he had to spend two years.
At the time, a dozen men occupied the base, surrounded by mountains and waters covered with ice nine months a year.
On July 26, 1959, in the heart of southern winter, Dennis and three other men, accompanied by sled dogs, came out to lead surveys on a glacier.
Second fatal fall
At one point, the meteorologist leaves his skis to help dogs move forward and falls into a crevasse. Located by his companions, he manages to be hoisted thanks to a rope attached to his belt, but the latter yields under the weight and the young man makes a second fall which is fatal to him, according to the story of his colleagues.
Last January, scientists working on a Polish basis located on King George Island came across his remains and other objects.
DNA tests, compared to samples taken from Dennis Bell’s brother and sister, confirmed that it was the young British.
In shock family
“When my sister Valerie and I were informed that our brother Dennis had been found after 66 years, we were in shock,” said David Bell, quoted in the press release from the British Antartic Survey.
Dennis was one of those who “contributed to the beginnings of exploration and research on Antarctica, in incredibly hard conditions,” said professor Jane Francis, Director of the Bas.
This discovery “puts an end to a mystery of several decades and reminds us of the human journeys attached to the history of research in Antarctica,” she added.