World

Swiss couple buried after missing in Swiss Alps for 75 years

July 23, 2017 / 3:27 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Bodies found in melted Swiss glacier identified as missing 1942 couple

BERLIN -- A Swiss couple whose bodies were found on an Alpine glacier after they went missing for nearly 75 years has been buried in Switzerland.

The funeral of Marcelin Dumoulin and his wife, Francine, took place Saturday in a church in Saviese in southwestern Switzerland, Swiss broadcaster SRF reports.

They were 40 and 37 years old when they disappeared on Aug. 15, 1942. The couple's daughter, Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, now 79, says her parents set off on foot to feed their animals but never returned.

SRF said two daughters took part in the funeral; the other five children have already died.

Remains of missing Swiss couple found in melting glacier

The bodies were found on the Tsanfleuron Glacier at 2,615 meters -- about 8,580 feet -- above sea level. Regional police told local media last week that the bodies were discovered near a ski lift on the glacier by a worker for an adventure resort company.

"The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period" of World War II, Glacier 3000 director Bernhard Tschannen told local media, according to the Reuters news agency. "They were perfectly preserved in the glacier and their belongings were intact."

In this photo released by the Swiss train company Glacier 3000, shoes and clothing are visible at a Swiss glacier where two bodies were found. GLACIER 3000/Keystone via AP

Tschannen told the Tribune de Geneve that his staff believed the couple likely fell into a crevasse, "where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies."

Swiss police say that due to climate change, the bodies of long-dead people have been emerging from receding glaciers.

Udry-Dumoulin told the Le Matin newspaper of Lausanne, Switzerland, that she and her siblings "spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping. We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day."

"It was the first time my mother went with him on such an excursion," Udry-Dumoulin told Le Matin. "She was always pregnant and couldn't climb in the difficult conditions of a glacier."

She added, "For the funeral, I won't wear black. I think that white would be more appropriate. It represents hope, which I never lost."