The body of British explorer Dennis Bell, aged 25, who went missing in Antarctica 65 years ago, was found inside a melting glacier, ending an incredible mystery that had lasted for decades. Bell, a meteorologist with the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (now British Antarctic Survey), fell into a crevasse in 1959 and went missing.
His remains, together with personal belongings such as a radio, a wristwatch, and a pipe, were discovered in January by a Polish Antarctic expedition crew on the Ecology Glacier base of King George Island. The news has come as a huge shock to Bell's family, who had abandoned hope of ever finding him.
"I had given up years ago on ever seeing my brother again. It's just incredible, unbelievable. I still can't believe it," David Bell, Dennis's 86-year-old brother, said in a report by BBC News. He described the traumatic moment more than six decades ago when they opened the telegram that brought them the news of Dennis's vanishing as "a horrendous moment."
Professor Dame Jane Francis, head of the British Antarctic Survey, praised Bell as a brave member of the pioneering Antarctic discovery squads, whose role was instrumental in polar science.
Dennis Bell, also known as "Tink," was born in 1934 and had served with the Royal Air Force, where he was trained as a meteorologist. He was sent on a two-year posting to Admiralty Bay on King George Island in 1958. His responsibilities involved launching meteorological weather balloons and transmitting reports back to the UK every three hours.
He died on a surveying expedition on July 26, 1959. According to retellings in contemporary sources, he tumbled through a snow bridge across a concealed crevasse. A rope was lowered by his expedition buddy, Jeff Stokes, and Bell was able to catch it at first. But as he was being drawn towards the surface, the rope, which he had allegedly attached to his belt instead of his body, broke, and he fell further into the chasm. Further attempts at rescue by Stokes were met with no response to calls afterwards, and deteriorating weather conditions hindered further operations.
In January, Polish scientists from the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station discovered bone fragments and other artifacts revealed by the retreating glacier. Realising the importance, they tagged the site with a GPS so the "fellow polar colleague" could be retrieved. Several expeditions were made by a multidisciplinary Polish team, consisting of an archaeologist, to thoroughly harvest all the remains and more than 200 personal belongings. The remains were taken back to the Falkland Islands and then to London, where DNA analysis at King's College London identified them with "extraordinary probability" through a comparison of samples from his siblings, Valerie Kelly and David Kelly.
Dennis Bell's sibling, David, is going to make the trip to England with his sister for a burial. "I'm just glad my parents never had to see this day," he said, smiling. "It's marvelous; I'm going to be reunited with my brother. You can say we shouldn't be thrilled, but we are. He's been found - he's been brought home now." This incredible find highlights the brutal conditions of polar exploration and brings closure to a family after over six decades of doubt.
