Human remains found five months ago in the Swiss Alps have been identified as an English hiker who went missing nearly 50 years ago.

The preserved skeleton of the 32-year-old man had been exposed by melting ice on the Corbassiere Glacier.

Police say the body – found on the Pennine Alps, in southwestern canton of Valais on 5th September – has been positively identified as a walker who went missing in 1974, aged 32.

Officials have spent months working with British police and diplomats to discover who he was, through DNA samples.

Canton Police Valais said in a statement obtained by Newsflash on 16th February: “The remains found at the scene suggested that it could be a man who had been reported missing from the Grand Combin area since December 31, 1974.

“A DNA identification, in cooperation with the police in Great Britain, led to the confirmation of the identity of the missing person.

“This is an English national who was 32 years old at the time of his disappearance.”

Police say he was found as part of a grim air search for human remains missing for decades that are now being exposed by global warming.

A spokesperson explained: “As part of the search for missing persons, the cantonal police are constantly looking for new possible leads.

“Due to the melting of the glacier, the agents of the cantonal police, in cooperation with the air force, went to the Corbassiere glacier.”

Switzerland’s glaciers have shrunk by around 50 per cent in just 85 years, exposing the long-buried remains of missing climbers and hikers.

In another case, remains found on the Stockji Glacier in Zermatt, Switzerland, on 26th July 2022, were matched to a 27-year-old German mountaineer who was declared missing in August 1990.