BODIES ON ICE
In mid-July, a shrinking glacier in Switzerland revealed two frozen bodies believed to be of a couple who went missing 75 years ago. Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin, the parents of seven children, had gone to milk their cows in a meadow above Chandolin in theValais canton on 15 August 1942. “We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping,” said their youngest daughter, Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, 79. “We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day.” She said the news brought her a “deep sense of calm” and she wanted to give them the funeral they deserved. The bodies had identity papers, but DNA testing would be carried out to remove any doubt.
The bodies were discovered by a worker from Glacier 3000, a ski-lift company, on Tsanfleuron glacier, above the Les Diablerets resort, at an altitude of 2,615m (8,600ft). Director Bernhard Tschannen said his employee found some backpacks, tin bowls and a glass bottle, a book and a watch, 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 crevasse.
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,” said Udry-Dumoulin. “She was always pregnant and couldn’t climb in the difficult conditions of a glacier. After a while, we children were separated and placed in families. I was lucky to stay with my aunt. 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.”
On 27 July, the remains of a person believed to have been killed in an Air India crash more than 50 years ago was also discovered in the French Alps, on Mount Blanc. Swiss police say hundreds of bodies of mountaineers who have gone missing in the Alps in the past century could emerge in coming years as global warming forces the country’s glaciers to retreat. [R] BBC News 18 July; D.Mail, 19 July; theguardian.com, 4 Aug 2017.