Swiss couple missing for 75 years 'uncovered on shrinking glacier'

The frozen bodies were discovered on a glacier at 8,600 feet after the Swiss couple went missing 75 years ago.
AFP/Getty Images

The frozen bodies of a Swiss couple who disappeared 75 years ago in the Alps have been uncovered on a shrinking glacier, according to local media.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin, parents to seven children, went missing after going to milk their cows in a meadow in the Valais canton in 1942.

Local police confirmed two bodies, both along with identity papers, were discovered last week on Tsanfleuron glacier at 8,600 feet near the Les Diablerets resort.

DNA testing is to be carried out to confirm their identities.

The couple’s youngest daughter Udry-Dumoulin, aged 79, told the Lausanne daily Le Matin: "We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping.

“We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day... I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm.”

The bodies were perfectly preserved in the glacier and their belongings were intact, according to a witness.

Bernhard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000, told the Tribune de Geneve: “We think they may have fallen into a crevasse where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies.”

Marcelin Dumoulin, 40, was a shoemaker, while Francine, 37, was a teacher. They left five sons and two daughters.

"It was the first time my mother went with him on such an excursion. She was always pregnant and couldn't climb in the difficult conditions of a glacier," Udry-Dumoulin said.

"After a while, we children were separated and placed in families. I was lucky to stay with my aunt," she said. "We all lived in the region but became strangers."

"For the funeral, I won't wear black. I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost."

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