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Finder of Tyrol 'Iceman'/"Ötzi" died in Austrian Alps

 
 
Reply Mon 18 Oct, 2004 12:10 pm
Quote:
Iceman discoverer missing in snow

Monday, 18 October, 2004,
A German hiker who in 1991 discovered the mummified remains of a prehistoric man has gone missing while walking in bad conditions in the Alps.
Helmut Simon, 67, was last seen on Friday morning setting out for a walk in Salzburg, Austria. Rescue teams have scoured the area but found no trace.

Heavy snowfall over the weekend has raised fears Mr Simon has not survived.

The iceman, "Oetzi", was found in the Oetztal valley on the Austrian-Italian border by Mr Simon and his wife Erika.

The wonderfully preserved 5,300-year-old corpse delighted scientists and is now a star attraction at the museum at Bolzano, northern Italy, where it is on display.

'Slim' chances

Search teams including dozens of rescuers and search dogs scoured the mountains in the Pongau region of Salzburg province until avalanche concerns halted the operation late Sunday.

About half a metre (18 inches) of snow fell over the weekend.

"There's a lot of snow up there," an unnamed rescuer told Reuters news agency.

"We've looked everywhere. He was hiking alone."

The rescuer said Mr Simon had no tent with him and there was no sign at the permanent hiker huts.

"You can imagine that the chances of survival outside in the snow are quite slim," said the rescuer.

Mummy drama

Mr Simon and his wife first thought they had discovered a mountaineer who had had an accident when they stumbled over Oetzi's remains.

But it turned out it was a frozen mummy which had emerged from a melting glacier.

It was first thought Oetzi had died of exposure to the cold but then it emerged that he had been murdered.

In recent years, the Simons had been embroiled in a row with the northern Italian authorities over whether they should be considered the official finders of the mummy.

They won this battle in 2003, but a new row then developed over what sum of money the finders should be paid for the discovery.
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 879 • Replies: 7
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Noddy24
 
  1  
Reply Mon 18 Oct, 2004 02:47 pm
I hope this won't spawn a new urban legend, "The Curse of the Alpine Mummy".
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Mon 18 Oct, 2004 02:52 pm
Well, I hope, they might find him still alive - which didn't unfortunately happen until today.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Thu 21 Oct, 2004 03:30 pm
According to the Austrian Alpine Rescue Service and to the Mountain Police Forces, he still hasn't been found ... now the are searching the 8th day.
0 Replies
 
Noddy24
 
  1  
Reply Thu 21 Oct, 2004 03:59 pm
In California three parties of hikers have been missing since the weekend. Search in the Sierra Nevada is complicated by blizzard conditions with four feet of snow.
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Thu 21 Oct, 2004 05:26 pm
A hiker from Massachusetts just walked out of our local Trinity Alps after being missing for eight days..

http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2480129,00.html
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Sat 23 Oct, 2004 07:31 am
http://img.tirol.com/artikel/20041023/304112/304112_2.jpg

Obviously, he fall down several hundred meters from an unsecured hunter's path, close to Mt Gaiskarkogel (2,300 m). He body was discovered by a hunter this morning, and recovered later by search troops.
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sat 23 Oct, 2004 10:16 am
Oh, dear. I am sorry to hear that. I guess I am glad his body was found though.
0 Replies
 
 

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