Body of missing man found on melting glacier after 28 years

Low clouds form in the valley below the Chattar Plain mountains in Mansehra District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, Friday, July 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Khaplu, Pakistan -- The family of a missing man whose body was discovered on a melting glacier in Pakistan after 28 years said Thursday its recovery had brought them some relief.

The body of 31-year-old Nasiruddin was spotted by locals near the edge of the shrinking Lady Meadows glacier in the Kohistan region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

His family said he and his brother had fled to the mountains after a dispute in their village in 1997 when he fell into a crevasse. His brother survived.

“Our family left no stone unturned to trace him over the years,” Malik Ubaid, the nephew of the deceased, told AFP over the phone.

“Our uncles and cousins visited the glacier several times to see if his body could be retrieved, but they eventually gave up as it wasn’t possible.”

Nasiruddin, who went by one name, was a husband and father of two children.

His well-preserved body, still carrying an identity card, was found on July 31 by a local shepherd and buried on Wednesday.

“Finally, we have got some relief after the recovery of his dead body,” Ubaid said.

Kohistan is a mountainous region where the outer reaches of the Himalayas stretch.

Pakistan is home to more than 13,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else on Earth outside the poles.

Rising global temperatures linked to human-driven climate change, however, are causing the glaciers to rapidly melt.

AFP