65 Years After His Death, Body Of British Man Found In Antarctic Glacier

The remains of a British meteorologist, who disappeared in 1959, were discovered in January 2025, 65 years after his death. Dennis "Tink" Bell was 25 when he fell into a crevasse while working in Antarctica. A team of Polish researchers, assisted by the Ecology Glacier's retreat on King George Island, found it.

Bell was assigned to the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (now British Antarctic Survey) at the Admiralty Bay research facility in the United Kingdom. He slipped into a hidden chasm on July 26, 1959, while on a winter survey excursion. Attempts to rescue him failed when the makeshift harness belt broke as he neared the surface. He was never seen after that moment.

According to the BBC, Bell travelled to Antarctica in 1958 for a two-year assignment at Admiralty Bay, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) off the northern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. He was responsible for deploying a generator in below-freezing temperatures to launch meteorological weather balloons and transmit the reports to the UK via radio every three hours.

In early 2025, Polish scientists at the Henryk Arctowski Station found almost 200 personal artefacts, including radio equipment, a torch, ski poles, an engraved Erguel wristwatch, a Swedish Mora knife, and an ebonite pipe stem, together with skeleton remains exposed by glacial melt, per The Guardian.

DNA tests at King's College London conclusively confirmed that the remains were Bell's. The body was later airlifted to London with RAF support after being transferred to the British Antarctic Survey's research vessel, with help from the British Antarctic Monument Trust.

Professor Dame Jane Francis, the British Antarctic Survey's Director, paid respect to the recovery, calling it "a poignant and profound moment" and a powerful reminder of the human cost of scientific discovery in one of the most hostile settings on Earth.

Reiterating similar remarks, the British Antarctic Monument Trust pointed out that many polar scientists "were never found," which makes this discovery "more remarkable."

The news has left a deeply emotional impact on Bell's family. David, his brother, who is currently in Australia, said he was "shocked and amazed" by the discovery and was really relieved that his brother had finally "come home," according to The New York Post.