The remains of a German citizen who went missing nearly 40 years ago while hiking a glacier in the Swiss Alps have been discovered. 

Melting glaciers lead to the discovery of multiple bodies and other objects thought to be lost forever.

Climbers hiking the Theodul Glacier in Zermatt discovered human remains and several pieces of equipment earlier this month, including a boot and crampon, police said in a statement Thursday.

“DNA analysis enabled the identification of a mountain climber who had been missing since 1986. In September 1986, a German climber, who was 38 at the time, had been reported missing after not returning from a hike,” the authorities said in their statement.

Police said that searches for the disappeared climber at the time proved unsuccessful. The climbers identity has not been released, though it was confirmed through DNA testing at Valais Hospital, where it was confirmed that it matched that of a missing person whose disappearance was reported back in 1986.

It has been reported that over 300 people have gone missing in the Swiss Alps over the last 100 years, due to visibility conditions, weather, and differing levels of preparedness. Almost a decade ago, the bodies of two Austrian soldiers who had fought and died in World War One were discovered due to climate change increasing the rate of ice melt. Wreckage of a plane that had crashed near the Aletsch glacier in the Alps in 1968 was discovered just last year. The glaciers lost over 6% of their ice last year due to rising temperatures. 

Swiss climate experts and others at the top of their field attribute glaciers melting at accelerated rates in part to climate change caused by human activity.