The corpses of two Japanese climbers who vanished on August 18, 1970, were discovered in September 2014 near the base of the Matterhorn Glacier at a height of 2,800 meters, right above the Zermatt resort in canton Valais, the police said Thursday. At the time, there was no success in finding the two climbers. The remains were taken to the Central Institute of Valais Hospitals (ICHV) forensic science section in Sion, canton Valais, according to the police. They were able to identify the victims’ DNA in collaboration with other experts.
The parents of the victims were found in Japan as a result of research conducted by the cantonal police and the Japanese embassy in Geneva. On June 11, 2015, and July 20, 2015, the identities of the two climbers’ DNA samples were formally verified.
Miskio Oikawa, 21, and Masayuki Kobayashi, 23, were the two climbers, according to the local daily La Nouvelliste, which discovered information on the disappearances in its archives. Both climbers were members of the French Alpine Club. According to witnesses at the time, on August 18, early in the afternoon, the two set out from Hörnli hut, the mountain station where climbers begin their ascent of the Matterhorn’s north face. Before a storm engulfed the mountain for several days, they were last observed at 4,200 meters.
A list of 270 persons who have gone missing since 1920 is kept by the cantonal police. The majority were involved in many drownings and mountain accidents. According to Jean-Marie Bornet, head of communication at Valais police, “these disappearances are rare today,” La Nouvelliste reported. These gruesome finds are becoming more common as glaciers melt and gradually recede. Searchers found the bones and clothing of 27-year-old British climber Jonathan Conville, who disappeared on the Matterhorn in 1979, in February 2014.
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