The remains of a 25-year-old Antarctic researcher have been found 66 years after he disappeared when he fell into a crevasse in 1959 during a survey mission, officials said.
Dennis "Tink" Bell's remains were found among rocks exposed by a receding glacier at Admiralty Bay on King George Island, situated off the Antarctic Peninsula after he fell into a crevasse on July 26, 1959, and his team was unable to recover his body after the accident, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said.
Over 200 personal items were also found, including the remains of radio equipment, a flashlight, ski poles, an inscribed Erguel wristwatch, a Swedish Mora knife, ski poles and an ebonite pipe stem, the BAS confirmed.
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“The remains were carried to the Falkland Islands on the BAS Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough and handed into the care of His Majesty’s Coroner for British Antarctic Territory, Malcolm Simmons, who accompanied them on the journey from Stanley to London, supported by the Royal Air Force,” officials said.
Samples of his DNA were then tested and compared to samples from his brother, David Bell, and his sister, Valerie Kelly, by Denise Syndercombe Court, a professor and forensic geneticist at King’s College London, who was able to confirm that the remains found were that of Dennis Bell.
“When my sister Valerie and I were notified that our brother Dennis had been found after 66 years we were shocked and amazed,” said David Bell, who is now living in Australia. “The British Antarctic Survey and British Antarctic Monument Trust have been a tremendous support and together with the sensitivity of the Polish team in bringing him home have helped us come to terms with the tragic loss of our brilliant brother.”
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Dennis Bell set out from the Antarctic base with three other men and two dogs on July 26, 1959, and attempted to climb a glacier leading to an ice plateau they were trying to get to so that they could carry out survey and geological work.
As they ascended the glacier, Bell, along with surveyor Ben Stokes, negotiated a crevassed area and believed that they were in the clear, according to the BAS.
“The deep soft snow made the going difficult and the dogs showed signs of tiredness. To encourage them Bell went ahead to urge them on, tragically without his skis,” officials with the BAS said in their statement recounting what happened. “Suddenly he disappeared leaving a gaping hole in the crevasse bridge through which he had fallen.”
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“Despite the terrible conditions and the ever-present risk of falling into another crevasse they continued to search for the scene of the accident,” officials recounted. “Ken Gibson [witness] remembers ‘It was probably twelve hours before we found the site and there was no way he could have survived.’”
The remains were discovered on the Ecology Glacier earlier this year in January by personnel from the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station on King George Island, though officials made their discovery public on Monday.
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The family will now decide how to mark Dennis’s memory.
“Dennis was one of the many brave FIDS personnel who contributed to the early science and exploration of Antarctica under extraordinarily harsh conditions,” Director of BAS Professor Dame Jane Francis said. “Even though he was lost in 1959, his memory lived on among colleagues and in the legacy of polar research. This discovery brings closure to a decades-long mystery and reminds us of the human stories embedded in the history of Antarctic science.”
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