The remains of a meteorologist who fell to his death on an Antarctic glacier 66 years ago have been found and brought back to the UK.
At 25 years old, Dennis 鈥淭ink鈥� Bell was on a two-year stint in the Antarctic for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, the predecessor of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), in July 1959. He was trekking in a two-person team across a glacier on King George Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula, when disaster struck.
Bell fell down a crevasse, but survived, and was able to call out to his colleague for help. When a rope was lowered, he tied it to his belt and was almost pulled to safety when the belt snapped, sending him plummeting once again. This time, he didn鈥檛 call out.
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His colleague managed to make it back to base, albeit with frostbitten hands, but weather conditions made any further rescue attempts too dangerous.
at BAS says working in the Antarctic in the 1950s and 60s was extremely dangerous and, sadly, deaths weren鈥檛 uncommon. Bodies of other BAS staff remain lost to this day.
鈥淭here was an average of 1 per cent chance that you wouldn鈥檛 come back,鈥� says Hopkins. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really extreme environment. It鈥檚 a really dangerous environment. We would lose people.鈥�
Earlier this year, a team from the Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station on King George Island discovered a number of bone fragments on the surface of the glacier, having been churned as it moved over the intervening years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big tumble dryer, a glacier, so things are always being moved around,鈥� says Hopkins. 鈥淚 think the fact that we鈥檙e talking about bone fragments is some indication of the sort of forces that are involved.鈥�
The remains were transported to the Falkland Islands on the Antarctic research ship Sir David Attenborough and then on to the UK in the hands of the Royal Air Force.
at King鈥檚 College London identified the body by comparing DNA samples with others from his brother David Bell and sister Valerie Kelly. They were 鈥渟hocked and amazed鈥� that their brother had finally been found, Bell said in a statement.
The Polish team also discovered hundreds of personal items thought to have belonged to Bell, including the remains of radio equipment, a torch, ski poles, an inscribed wristwatch, a knife and an ebonite pipe stem.
