by The remains of a British researcher, who got into a column on an Antarctic glacier 66 years ago, were recovered, said British Antarctic measurement (BAS).
The then 25 -year -old Dennis Bell disappeared into the ice on July 26, 1959 when he climbed the ecology glacier on King George Island, one of the South Hetland Islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. He survived the first fall – an estimated 100 foot – but an attempt to save him, failed and he was not seen again.
In January, a team from the Polish base of King George Island found its remains and hundreds of personal objects under rocks that were uncovered when the glacier withdrew, told the BAS.
The Polish team carried out an extensive archaeological examination for over five days in February and recovered bone fragments and artificial artifact-intelligent with an engraved inscription, a Swedish knife, radio devices and ski masts.
DNA samples were coordinated with Bell’s living siblings David Bell and Valerie Kelly, which were surprised by the discovery.
“When my sister Valerie and I were informed that our brother Dennis had been found after 66 years, we were shocked and amazed,” said David Bell to Bas. He thanked the family towards the British and Polish team for “home” and said that the discovered had helped them “to be cotton with the tragic loss of our brilliant brother.”
Known under the nickname “Tink”, Bell the FIDS (FIDS) of the Falkland Islands added dependencies (FIDS) – the predecessor of the BAS – as a meteorologist in 1958 and was looking for more adventures for a career at the Royal Air Force.
Undated hand out photo of British Antarctic Survey of Dennis Bell (right) Christmas celebrations with colleagues from Admiralty Bay Station, C.1958. – British Antarctic Survey/Pa/Alamy/Sipa
“This discovery brings a decades of secret and reminds us of the human stories that are embedded in the history of Antarctic science,” said Dame Jane Francis, director of BAS, who added that it was “moving and profound”.
Bell was stationed on a small British base with only half a dozen men in the Admiralty Bay of King George Island, where the Sea was nine months a year.
The undated handout photo of British Antarctic of Admiralty Bay Base on King George Island 1951, where Dennis Bell worked. – British Antarctic Survey/Pa/Alamy/Sipa
On July 26, 1959, Bell and three other men made their way to dog sleds to climb the glacier on the summit of the island to carry out the survey and geological work, with Bell and the surveyor Jeff Stokes leaving about 30 minutes before the other group.
The snow was deep and the dogs had started showing signs of fatigue, so Bell went ahead to encourage them, but he didn’t wore his skis. Suddenly he disappeared into the ice.
Stokes called a hole in the ice and, according to a report by the former BAS director Sir Vivian Fuchs in Antony Nelson’s book “of Ice and Men”, “very facilitated” to hear the answer.
Stokes then lowered a rope by almost 100 feet into the hole, said that he should captivate himself and attached it to the dog slide so as not to get out of it, to take it out, reported by Fuchs.
“Bell had bound the rope through his belt instead of his body around his body, perhaps because of the angle in which he was lying in the column. When he was up to the lip, the belt broke and went down again,” said Fuchs.
Bell never replied to his friend’s calls.
Stokes left marker on site and went down the glacier to find the other team of men. After 12 hours they finally returned to the location in worsened weather and found that it could not be saved.
Undated hand out photo, which was published by the British Antarctic overview of the area on the front of the ecology glacier, where the remains were found by Dennis Bell in loose rocks. – Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station/PA/Alamy/Sia
“Dennis was one of the many brave FIDS employees who contributed to the early science and research of Antarctica under extremely hard conditions,” said Francis, the director of BAS.
“Although he was lost in 1959, his memory lived among colleagues and in the legacy of the polar research.”
After he had been recovered by the Polish team, his remains on the BAS research ship The Sir David Attenborough were brought to the Falkland Islands, where they were handed over to the forensic doctor for British Antarctic territory and transported to London.
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