Three frozen bodies that have been found on Ecuador’s highest peak may be the remains of French climbers who disappeared in an avalanche 20 years ago, officials said yesterday.
The victims discovered by mountain guides on Saturday were still wearing climbers’ backpacks and investigators hope that a camera found nearby will help to shed light on their identity.
The bodies were found buried in a layer of ice at 18,565ft (5,560m) on the Chimborazo volcano in the Andes, 80 miles south of Quito, the capital.
Police suspect that they may be some of the six French and Swiss climbers and three Ecuadorean guides who disappeared on the inactive volcano in 1994.
“We are checking verified registrations and the versions of the guides and we are looking at lists of people who have gone missing on the mountain,” Fernando de la Torre, the head of the missing persons bureau, said. “Given the age of the bodies, it is very difficult.”
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Chimborazo is prone to avalanches, and many climbers make the risky ascent at night when the sun is not melting the glaciers.
In November 1994, a massive avalanche swept away a party of three French climbers and their local guide, a second group of two Ecuadoreans and a Swiss climber, and a third group of three French climbers who had left a larger group on their ascent and turned back because of the biting cold. The survivors of the group that made it to the summit searched the area on their way down but could find no bodies.
The location of the three bodies, just 2,000ft below the summit, suggests that they may be the first group of three French climbers who vanished.
Officials have asked the relatives of the French mountaineers to come forward to help confirm the identities, but have said that any tests will have to wait until the remains thaw naturally to avoid tissue damage.
They also wish to avoid damage to the clothes, which could yield additional clues.