Body of missing Antarctic explorer found after 66 years as brother says, ‘He's come home'
Dennis 'Tink' Bell, a British meteorologist, disappeared in 1959 at age 25 after falling into a crevasse.
His bones were only discovered in January, when a melting glacier revealed them along with his wristwatch, radio and pipe.
'I had long given up on finding my brother. It is just remarkable, astonishing. I can't get over it,' David Bell, 86, told BBC News.
A team of Polish researchers had spotted Dennis's bones in some loose ice and rocks at the foot of Ecology Glacier on King George Island and carefully recovered the remains in four separate trips.
4 The body of missing Antarctic explorer Dennis Bell has been found after 66 years.
David Bell
'Every effort was made to ensure that Dennis could return home,' the team said in a statement.
David, who now lives in Australia, plans to visit England soon, where he and his sister will finally put Dennis to rest.
'It's wonderful; I'm going to meet my brother,' David said. 'You might say we shouldn't be thrilled, but we are. He's been found – he's come home now.'
4 Dennis Bell (left) was last seen in July 1959 after falling down a crevasse while out surveying King George Island.
'I'm just sad my parents never got to see this day,' David went on, adding that, 'My mother never really got over it. She couldn't handle photographs of him and couldn't talk about him.'
Dennis joined the Royal Air Force, where he trained as a meteorologist, before he was sent to Antarctica by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1958 for a two-year assignment stationed at Admiralty Bay, a small UK base on King George Island around 75 miles off the coast.
4 His bones and some personal items were discovered at the foot of a melting glacier.
Getty Images
His job was to send up meteorological balloons and radio weather reports back to Britain, a grueling task that involved operating a generator in sub-zero conditions.
He was on a surveying trip on King George Island on July 26, 1959, when he slipped down a crevasse while attending to his sled dogs, according to accounts from his coworker at the time, Jeff Stokes, and seen by BBC News.
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Donald Pearsall / NY Post Design
Stokes lowered a rope to Dennis, who tied it around his belt, but Stokes he pulled him up, the belt broke just at the top, and Dennis fell again, this time not answering.
'That's a story I shall never get over,' David said, describing how he was at home in London when his parents got the tragic news.
'The telegram boy said, 'I'm sorry to tell you, but this is bad news.' It was a horrendous moment,' David said.
Stokes died just five weeks before the news emerged of the discovery of his friend's remains, BBC News reported.
Since 1944, 29 people have died working on British Antarctic Territory on scientific missions, according to the British Antarctic Monument Trust.
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