Body of WWI soldier discovered in Italian Alps when glacier melts, officials say
Human remains discovered on the Vedretta di Lares glacier in the Italian Alps have been identified as a soldier from a century ago, according to officials.
Alpine rescue teams were called to the site at an altitude of more than 10,000 feet in the mountains, according to an Aug. 26 post on social media platform X from the Ministry of Defense and Italian news outlets.
The remains were exposed when the glacier retreated, or was melting and shrinking, revealing the human form trapped in the ice, officials said.
The body had decomposed, but the uniform the person was wearing and other equipment was well-preserved, L’Adige reported.
The uniform helped officials identify the body as an Austro-Hungarian soldier from World War I, according to the post.
The soldier likely fell in the ice between 1915 and 1918, Trento Today reported.
The remains were analyzed by the office of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage of the Autonomous Province of Trento – Archaeological Heritage Office, Vita Trentina reported, and the remains will be studied in hopes of identifying the soldier.
This isn’t the first time soldiers from this time period have emerged from the ice.
Over the past decade, multiple bodies of Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops have been uncovered, particularly around cave barracks that were built near frozen summits, The New York Times reported in 2021.
They were victims of the White War, a literal cold war between the two groups that led to extreme innovation to survive the harsh, wintery conditions, National Geographic reported in 2014 when other bodies emerged.
Only one-third of the total 150,000 men who died in the Alps actually died during conflict, according to the outlet, while the rest died from “avalanches, landslides, frostbite and illnesses caused by the extreme cold.”
Google Translate was used to translate the X post and Italian news articles.
