Nearly seven decades after a British researcher plummeted to his death in a glacial crevasse off Antarctica, his remains have been identified and returned to his family, the British Antarctic Survey announced on Monday.
The researcher, Dennis Bell, was 25 years old on July 26, 1959, when he fell into a chasm on King George Island, which is part of the South Shetland Islands and is about 75 miles north of Antarctica.
Mr. Bell, who grew up in northwest London and was known as Tink, had been working as a meteorologist for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, the predecessor of the BAS, which oversees most of Britain’s research in Antarctica.
Blizzard-like conditions foiled a desperate attempt to rescue him by several other members of the expedition that he was on, according to the organization.
This January, while combing through some loose rocks on the island at the front of the Ecology Glacier, which had receded, a research team from Poland discovered human remains that scientists later said matched samples taken from Mr. Bell’s brother, David Bell, and sister, Valerie Kelly.
“When my sister Valerie and I were notified that our brother, Dennis, had been found after 66 years, we were shocked and amazed,” David Bell, who lives in Australia, said in a statement provided by the BAS.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The post Remains of British Researcher Lost in 1959 Are Discovered Off Antarctica appeared first on New York Times.
