I didn't have this on my Bingo card for this week.
Via the BBC:
The bones of a British man who died in a terrible accident in Antarctica in 1959 have been discovered in a melting glacier.
The remains were found in January by a Polish Antarctic expedition, alongside a wristwatch, a radio, and a pipe.
He has now been formally identified as Dennis 'Tink' Bell, who fell into a crevasse aged 25 when working for the organisation that became the British Antarctic Survey.
Bell was a meteorologist who worked for the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition. He was "known for his love of the husky dogs."
Per Wikipedia, during an expedition to King George Island in July 1959 Bell "fell through a snow bridge over a crevasse" while surveying a glacier with sled dogs. The dogs were tired in the deep snow, so Bell went to spur them on, but wasn't wearing skis and his weight collapsed the snow beneath him.
Efforts were made to rescue him, but they were unsuccessful:
[Surveyor Sir Vivian Fuchs] wrote that Bell's colleague, Stokes, called down and received a reply before lowering a rope about 30 metres. Bell secured the rope to his belt, and Stokes attached the other end to the sled dogs to assist with hauling. As Bell neared the surface, his body became wedged against the edge, the belt broke, and he fell back into the crevasse.
As the BBC reports, "His friend called again, but this time Dennis didn't reply."
Further attempts were made to rescue Bell, though bad weather put an end to the efforts, after which he was assumed dead and his body was not recovered.
Bell's brother David, now 86, told the BBC that he had "long given up on finding my brother. It is just remarkable, astonishing. I can't get over it."
It was David who answered the door in his family home in Harrow, London, in July 1959.
'The telegram boy said, "I'm sorry to tell you, but this is bad news",' he says. He went upstairs to tell his parents.
The sense of bittersweet happiness felt now by David is palpable:
David will soon visit England where he and his sister, Valerie, plan to finally put Dennis to rest.
'It's wonderful; I'm going to meet my brother. You might say we shouldn't be thrilled, but we are. He's been found - he's come home now.'
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