Climber's body found frozen in ice 22 years after he disappeared in Peru
The body of a man who disappeared 22 years ago while hiking on the side of a mountain in Peru has been recovered after it was found frozen in ice.
American climber William Stampfl, then 59, was reported missing in June 2002 after he was buried in an avalanche on the 22,000ft-high Huascaran mountain, in the Andes.
His body, clothes, climbing gear and passport were all preserved by the cold, which allowed police to identify his body.
A spokesperson for the Peruvian police told AFP that the body had emerged after ice melted on the Cordilla Blanca range of the Andes.
Stampfl was identified by his passport, which was found at the scene.
Peru has lost half of its glacier surface in the past 60 years amid a rise in global temperatures, according to scientists.
Mayra Mejía, from Peru’s National Institute of Research of Mountain Glaciers and Ecosystems, told the Associated Press that glaciers had almost disappeared within some of the country’s mountain ranges.
Last year, Peruvian authorities recovered the body of a woman who died during an expedition in the Andes in March 1981.
Marta Emilia Altamirano, also known as Patty, fell to her death after slipping from a 16,000ft peak.
She had been the subject of four unsuccessful search expeditions.
Her body was discovered stuck to a glacier on the highest peak of the Cordillera de la Ramada range of the Andes.
Mount Huarascan is situated around 270 miles north of the capital Lima and stands at over 22,000 feet.
It is part of the Cordillera Blanca mountain ragne, which is popular with mountaineers but can be dangerous.
Stampfl is the third person this year to be found dead in the region.
