THE BODIES of two missing climbers have been found 34 years after they disappeared in the Swiss Alps.

The terrifying discovery was made by a hiker, who reported finding the two bodies on the Trift Glacier, a fast-melting mass of ice in southern Switzerland.

Alpine village in the Swiss Alps covered with snow.The Swiss Alps are a popular destination for hikers Credit: Getty Images Vorab cable cars in the Laax ski resort in Switzerland.Melting glaciers continue to release previously frozen bodies Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Following a recovery operation, the bodies were taken for identification at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Wallis Hospital in Sion.

Wallis Police said: “A direct comparison of DNA profiles conclusively established that the individuals were two mountaineers who had been missing in the Weissmies region since 1992.”

The victims were two Belgian men aged 39 and 41 at the time of their disappearance.

Their bodies were first discovered on July 26.

On 4 September 1992, the two men planned to hike from the Weissmies hut to the top of the Weissmies, which is 13,179 ft tall.

They were hit with bad weather conditions and never reached the summit.

Rescuers launched several search operations over the next few months but they could only find a rucksack belonging to the hikers.

Wallis police, who monitor the area, have kept records of people reported missing since 1925.

Most of the reports contain people who went missing in mountainous areas and rivers.

Climate change has accelerated the melting of glaciers around the world, often releasing bodies that were trapped for decades.

Valais Cantonal Police said: “As glaciers recede, human remains of individuals who disappeared in the mountains decades ago are frequently uncovered.”

Last year, Wallis police found the bones of a Swiss mountaineer who disappeared in 1994 on a glacier in the Ober Gabelhorn mountain.

In 2017, a shrinking glacier in Switzerland unearthed the bodies of a frozen couple who went missing in 1942.

This pattern is most evident on Mount Everest in Nepal, where over 300 mountaineers have died since recording began in 1920.

Around 200 of those bodies have remained on the mountain as high-altitude recovery is extremely dangerous.

Ang Tshering Sherpa, the former president of Nepal Mountaineering Association said: “We have brought down dead bodies of some mountaineers who died in recent years,”

“but the old ones that remained buried are now coming out.”