"Unbelievable": Body Of Man Missing For 28 Years Found Inside Melting Glacier In Pakistan

The body of a man who went missing 28 years ago has been discovered remarkably well-preserved within a glacier in remote Pakistan. According to the BBC, Naseeruddin had been on a trip with his family to escape a violent feud when he disappeared. On July 31, locals in the Kohistan region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province spotted the preserved body near the edge of the shrinking Lady Meadows glacier. An identity card found with the body confirmed his identity as Naseeruddin.

"What I saw was unbelievable. The body was intact. The clothes were not even torn," Omar Khan, a local shepherd who found the remains, told BBC Urdu.

After police confirmed the identity, locals came forward with more information about Naseeruddin's disappearance. According to police, Naseeruddin fell into a glacier crevice during a snowstorm in June 1997 and went missing.

Naseeruddin, a husband and father of two, was travelling on horseback with his brother Kathiruddin in 1997 when he fell into a crevasse. The brothers had fled to the mountains to escape a village dispute, and Kathiruddin survived the ordeal.

"Our family left no stone unturned to trace him over the years. 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," Malik Ubaid, his nephew, told AFP over the phone.

The family expressed gratitude upon the discovery, with Mr Ubaid stating they finally found some relief after recovering his body. He was buried on Wednesday.

When a body falls into a glacier, the extreme cold rapidly freezes it, stopping the process of decomposition. The glacier's lack of moisture and oxygen then mummifies the body, preserving it, according to Prof. Muhammad Bilal, head of the Department of Environment at Comsats University Islamabad.

The Kohistan region in northern Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, once experienced consistent snowfall. However, rising global temperatures linked to human-driven climate change have accelerated glacial melt. As per AFP,  Pakistan is home to more than 13,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else on Earth outside the poles.