Image copyright Télévision Suisse Romande Image caption Bernhard Tschannen shows where the bodies were found in the ice

A shrinking glacier in Switzerland has revealed two frozen bodies believed to be of a couple who went missing 75 years ago, Swiss media report.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin disappeared at a height of 2,600m (8,530ft) after going to tend to their cows in the Alps in August 1942.

They were farmers whose seven children never gave up hope of finding them.

Their youngest daughter, 79, said she was now planning to give her parents the funeral they deserved.

Mr and Mrs Dumoulin were never found despite extensive searches.

"We spent our whole lives looking for them," Marceline Udry-Dumoulin told Lausanne daily Le Matin.

"I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm."

A DNA test will be conducted in several days' time, police say.

Local police said the bodies were discovered last week on Tsanfleuron glacier, above the Les Diablerets resort, by a worker from ski-lift company, Glacier 3000.

Director Bernhard Tschannen said his employee found some backpacks, tin bowls and a glass bottle, as well as male and female shoes, and part of a body under the ice.

Valais police said in a statement that a book, a backpack and a watch had been taken to Lausanne for forensic analysis.

Mr Tschannen said that it was likely the couple had fallen into a crevasse and the way they were dressed implied that they could have been there for 70 or 80 years.

"The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War Two," he told Le Matin.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The weathered belongings of Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin were also found on the Tsanfleuron glacier alongside their bodies

Ms Udry-Dumoulin said her mother, a teacher, rarely went on such walks with her husband, a shoemaker, because she spent much of her adult life pregnant and it was difficult terrain.

She said that she had never given up hoping that one day she would find her parents, even climbing the glacier three times to look for them.

Within two months of the disappearance of her parents, she and her siblings were placed with different families, and lost contact over the years.

She told Le Matin that she wanted to hold a long-awaited funeral, but would not wear black.

"I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost," she said.

The bodies of a number of missing climbers have been discovered in the Alps in recent years.

Climatologists say a rise in global temperatures is causing the ice to recede, revealing the corpses of those missing for decades.</s>The frozen bodies of a Swiss couple who went missing 75 years ago in the Alps have been found on a shrinking glacier, Swiss media said on Tuesday.

GENEVA — The frozen bodies of a Swiss couple who went missing 75 years ago in the Alps have been found on a shrinking glacier, Swiss media said on Tuesday.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin, the parents of seven children, had gone to milk their cows in a meadow above Chandolin in the Valais canton on August 15, 1942.

“We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping. We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day,” their youngest daughter Marceline Udry-Dumoulin told the Lausanne daily Le Matin.

“I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm,” added the 79-year-old.

In an overnight statement, Valais cantonal police said that two bodies bearing identity papers had been discovered last week by a worker on Tsanfleuron glacier near a ski lift above Les Diablerets resort at an altitude of 2,615 metres (8,600 feet).

DNA testing would be carried out to confirm the identities of the couple.

“The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War Two,” Bernhard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000, told the paper.

“They were perfectly preserved in the glacier and their belongings were intact.”

“We think they may have fallen into a crevasse where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies,” he told the daily Tribune de Geneve.

Marcelin Dumoulin, 40, was a shoemaker, while Francine, 37, was a teacher. They left five sons and two daughters.

“It was the first time my mother went with him on such an excursion. She was always pregnant and couldn’t climb in the difficult conditions of a glacier,” Udry-Dumoulin said.

“After a while, we children were separated and placed in families. I was lucky to stay with my aunt,” she said. “We all lived in the region but became strangers.”

“For the funeral, I won’t wear black. I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost.”</s>A pair of bodies discovered in a shrinking glacier in Switzerland are believed to be a couple who went missing 75 years ago, according to a report in Swiss newspaper Le Matin.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin disappeared in the area in August 1942 while tending to their cows.

Bernhard Tschannen, the director of ski-lift company Glacier 3000, said one of his employees stumbled upon pairs of male and female shoes, some backpacks, tin bowls, and part of a body on the Tsanfleuron glacier, according to the Guardian.

Local police said in a statement that there were two bodies lying near each other — “a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War Two.”

DNA tests have not yet confirmed their identities, but police said the bodies had identity papers, and were perfectly preserved in the glacier.

Tschannen told the Geneva Tribune that the couple likely fell into a crevasse and stayed there for decades, until the glacier receded. The bodies were found near a ski lift above the Les Diablerets resort in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

Marcelin Dumoulin, a shoemaker, and Francine, a teacher, left behind seven children. Their youngest daughter, Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, is now 79 and told Le Matin that the discovery brought her a “deep sense of calm.”

“We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping” she said. After their parents’ disappearance, Udry-Dumoulin said she and her siblings were placed with different families and eventually lost touch.

“I was lucky to stay with my aunt. We all lived in the region but became strangers,” she said.

Udry-Dumoulin said she plans to have a proper funeral for her parents, and wear white to represent the hope she never lost.</s>On a summer day in August 1942, Swiss couple Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin set off on foot in the Alps. They never returned.

Now, two bodies have been discovered in a shrinking glacier by a worker from a ski lift company, according to Swiss media, and they are believed to be the couple who disappeared some 75 years ago.

Local police said in a statement that the pair was discovered on Friday at the Tsanfleuron glacier at an elevation of more than 8,500 feet. They appear to be victims of an accident "decades ago," the Valais police said, and were found with a number of objects such as a backpack, a watch and a book.</s>On a summer day in August 1942, Swiss couple Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin set off on foot in the Alps. They never returned.

Now, two bodies have been discovered in a shrinking glacier by a worker from a ski lift company, according to Swiss media, and they are believed to be the couple who disappeared some 75 years ago.

Local police said in a statement that the pair was discovered on Friday at the Tsanfleuron glacier at an elevation of more than 8,500 feet. They appear to be victims of an accident "decades ago," the Valais police said, and were found with a number of objects such as a backpack, a watch and a book.

"It was a mummified man and a woman wearing clothes dating from the pre-war period," Bernhard Tschannen, the director of the ski lift company, tells Le Matin.

"Everything suggests that they were trying to reach the canton of Bern on foot, as people sometimes did at the time. It was the shortest route."

Authorities say it will take a few days for DNA evidence to formally confirm the identities.

But the couple's youngest daughter, 79-year-old Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, tells Le Matin that the news is already bringing her immense relief.

"We have spent our lives searching for them, relentlessly. We did not think we could ever give them the funeral they deserved," she said. "I must say that after 75 years of waiting, this news calms me deeply."

When the shoemaker and teacher disappeared, teams from the village searched the nearby mountain for 2 1/2 months before they gave up the search, Udry-Dumoulin told the newspaper.

She and her six siblings were split up with different families. "We all lived in the area, but we did not know each other anymore," she said.

She wants to finally give her parents a funeral, she tells the newspaper. "I will not put on black. I think white will be more appropriate. This represents hope, which I have never lost."

Swiss news site The Local details other recent discoveries of long-missing persons found as glaciers shrink:

"In 2012 the remains of three brothers who disappeared in 1926 were found on the Aletsch glacier in the Valais. "In 2015 the bodies of two young Japanese climbers who disappeared in 1970 were found at the foot of the Matterhorn glacier, also in the Valais. "And last year the remains of a 36-year-old German skier who went missing in 1963 were uncovered at the Morteratsch glacier in the Graubünden."</s>The bodies of a Swiss couple missing for 75 years have been found, perfectly-preserved, in a receding glacier, The Brisbane Times is reporting.

A worker manning the overnight shift at Les Diablerets ski resort discovered the bodies, 8,579 feet up, on the Tsanfleuron Glacier, near the town of Chandolin in the Swiss canton of Valais. And a family believes the bodies belong to their missing relatives.

Back in August 1942, Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin went on a routine mission to milk their cows, leaving their seven children at home. They never returned. Family members believed at the time that they’d fallen into a crevasse; over the next seven and a half decades, they never gave up hope that their relatives would be found.

The couple’s youngest daughter was four years old at the time. Now 79, youngest daughter Marceline Udry says that finding her parents brings this decades-long chapter of her family’s history to a close.

To be fair, it’s not 100 percent certain that the bodies found in Tsanfleuron Glacier are Mr. and Mrs. Dumoulin. Though the couple was carrying identification, and wearing clothes of the era, nobody will know for certain until DNA tests come back, says Bernhard Tschannen, director of the Glacier 300 project.

After Mr. Dumoulin, a 40-year-old shoemaker at the time, and his wife, Francine, a 37-year-old schoolteacher, went missing, the siblings were split up.

Now that the family believes the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Dumoulin have been found, daughter Marceline is planning on giving them the proper funeral they never had.

Glaciers are surprisingly good at preserving bodies, not just of humans, but of animals, such as wooly mammoths. The cold, dry air retards the growth of bacteria that would otherwise cause the bodies to decay. For this reason, Mt. Everest, for example, is littered with the perfectly-preserved bodies of climbers who have fallen into crevasses and died, or otherwise succumbed to the dangers of the mountain. Because moving the bodies is dangerous and burns precious energy, they’re almost always left there for eternity; as of this writing, according to BBC News, about 200-250 bodies are believed to be scattered around up there.</s>Shrinking glacier in Swiss Alps reveals bodies, belongings of couple missing since World War II

The frozen remains of a Swiss couple who went missing 75 years ago in the Alps have been found on a shrinking glacier, local media reports.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin, the parents of seven children, had gone to feed their cattle in a meadow above Chandolin in the Valais canton on August 15, 1942.

"We spent our whole lives looking for them without stopping," their youngest daughter Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, 79, told the Lausanne daily Le Matin.

"We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day.

"I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm."

In an overnight statement, Valais cantonal police said that two bodies bearing identity papers had been discovered last week by a worker on Tsanfleuron glacier near a ski lift above Les Diablerets resort at an altitude of 2,615 metres.

The remains were partly submerged in a hole in the ice.

An autopsy and DNA testing would be carried out to confirm the identities of the couple.

"The bodies were lying near each other," Bernhard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000, told the paper.

"It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War II.

"We think they may have fallen into a crevasse where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies," he told the daily Tribune de Geneve.

The pair were among 280 people listed as missing in the Alps or rivers of the Valais since 1925, officials said.

Cantonal head of forensic medicine Bettina Schrag told Swiss public radio RTS: "Given the current shrinking of glaciers, we have to expect more and more such findings."

Marcelin Dumoulin, 40, was a shoemaker, while Francine, 37, was a teacher — they left five sons and two daughters.

"For the funeral, I won't wear black. I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost."</s>BERLIN (AP) - Swiss police say they've formally identified two bodies found on an Alpine glacier as those of a couple missing for nearly 75 years.

Valais canton (state) police said Wednesday that forensic experts using DNA analysis identified the two as Marcelin Dumoulin and his wife, Francine. They were 40 and 37, respectively, when they disappeared on Aug. 15, 1942.

The couple's daughter, now 79, has said her parents set off on foot to feed their animals but never returned.

In this photo released by the Swiss train company ' Glacier 3000' shoes and clothing are visible at a Swiss glacier where two bodies were found. . Police say the bodies of what appear to be two people killed in an accident decades ago have been recovered from a glacier in southwestern Switzerland. Valais canton police say the bodies were found on the Tsanfleuron glacier Friday July 14, 2017 at an altitude of 2,615 meters (8,580 feet). They say the equipment found suggests that they died decades ago, and that formal identification with the help of DNA will take several days. (GLACIER 3000/Keystone via AP)

Police were alerted on Friday to the bodies on the Tsanfleuron glacier at 2,615 meters (8,580 feet) above sea level.

Regional police have a list going back to 1925 of missing people. They note that, because of climate change, bodies of people missing for decades regularly emerge from receding glaciers.</s>A shrinking glacier in the Swiss Alps has revealed the frozen bodies belived to be of a couple who went missing 75 years ago, Swiss media said on Tuesday. Marcelin Dumoulin who was 40 and Francine Dumoulin who was 37 had gone to milk their cows in a meadow above Chandolin in the Valais canton on August 15, 1942. The couple who had seven children never returned home after the excursion.

“We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping. We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day,” their youngest daughter Marceline Udry-Dumoulin told the Lausanne daily Le Matin. “I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm,” added the 79-year-old. “It was the first time my mother went with him on such an excursion. She was always pregnant and couldn’t climb in the difficult conditions of a glacier,” she said. “After a while, we children were separated and placed in families. I was lucky to stay with my aunt,” she said. “We all lived in the region but became strangers.”

The Valais cantonal police said that two bodies bearing identity papers had been discovered last week by a worker on Tsanfleuron glacier near a ski lift above Les Diablerets resort at an altitude of 2,615 metres. The local police added that DNA test would establish if the bodies are of the couple who went missing. “The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War Two,” Bernhard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000, told the paper.

The officer also added that the bodies were perfectly preserved in the glacier and that their belongings were intact. “We think they may have fallen into a crevasse where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies,” he told the daily Tribune de Geneve.

“For the funeral, I won’t wear black. I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost,” the youngest daughter added.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>A shrinking glacier in Switzerland has revealed two frozen bodies believed to be of a couple who went missing 75 years ago, Swiss media report.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin disappeared after going to tend to their cows in the Alps in 1942.

The couple had seven children.

Their youngest daughter, 79, said the news brought her a "deep sense of calm" and she wanted to give them the funeral they deserved.

"We spent our whole lives looking for them," Marceline Udry-Dumoulin told Lausanne daily Le Matin.

A DNA test has yet to be carried out.
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Local police said the bodies were discovered last week on Tsanfleuron glacier, above the Les Diablerets resort, by a worker from ski-lift company, Glacier 3000.

Director Bernhard Tschannen said his employee found some backpacks, tin bowls and a glass bottle, as well as male and female shoes, and part of a body under the ice.

He said that it was likely the couple had fallen into a crevice and the way they were dressed implied that they could have been there for 70 or 80 years.

"The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War Two," he told Le Matin.

Ms Udry-Dumoulin said her mother, a teacher, never usually went on such walks with her husband, a shoemaker, because she spent much of her adult life pregnant and it was difficult terrain.

She said her and her siblings were placed with different families, and lost contact over the years.

She told Le Matin that she wanted to hold a long-awaited funeral, but would not wear black.

"I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost," she said.
A shrinking glacier in Switzerland has revealed two frozen bodies believed to be of a couple who went missing in 1942 and had never been found, despite extensive searches. Swiss authorities said that a DNA test will be conducted in several days' time.