'Clothes still intact': Body of Pakistan man missing since 28 years found in melting glacier

Naseeruddin was buried on Wednesday in his native village. (Image: @MarioNawfal/X)

The remains of a man who vanished nearly three decades ago were recovered from a retreating glacier in Pakistan’s mountainous Kohistan district, police confirmed this week.

The body, later identified as that of Naseeruddin, had been preserved in near-perfect condition inside the ice since his disappearance in June 1997. His discovery came after a shepherd, Omar Khan, spotted the remains near the Lady Meadows glacier, a remote area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on July 31.

“What I saw was unbelievable,” Khan told BBC Urdu. “The body was intact. The clothes were not even torn.”

Beside the body lay an identity card bearing the name Naseeruddin. Police used this to confirm that he was the man who had gone missing during a journey into the highlands 28 years ago.

According to local accounts, Naseeruddin and his brother, Kathiruddin, had left their home on horseback to escape a violent feud in their village. The pair travelled into the Lady Valley,arriving there in the morning. Later that day, Kathiruddin recalled, his brother entered a cave and failed to return.

Kathiruddin told BBC Urdu that he had searched the cave himself before bringing others to help, but their efforts were fruitless. Police later concluded that Naseeruddin had fallen into a crevasse in the glacier during a snowstorm.

The discovery of his body this summer came as shrinking ice exposed parts of the glacier long hidden from view. Reduced snowfall in recent years has left the ice more vulnerable to direct sunlight, accelerating melt rates across the region.

“When a body enters a glacier, the extreme cold freezes it rapidly, halting decomposition,” explained Professor Muhammad Bilal, head of the Department of Environment at Comsats University Islamabad. “The absence of moisture and oxygen then causes mummification, which can preserve the remains for decades.”

Relatives said Naseeruddin had been a husband and father of two young children at the time of his disappearance. His nephew, Malik Ubaid, told AFP that the family had searched for years without success.

“Our family left no stone unturned to trace him over the years,” Ubaid said. “Our uncles and cousins visited the glacier several times to see if his body could be retrieved, but they eventually gave up as it wasn’t possible.”

Following the recovery, his relatives expressed gratitude and a sense of closure. Naseeruddin was buried on Wednesday in his native village.

Pakistan, which has more than 13,000 glaciers — the largest number outside the polar regions — has been witnessing an increased rate of glacial retreat. Scientists have attributed much of this to rising global temperatures linked to climate change