The body of a man who went missing nearly three decades ago has been discovered on a melting glacier in Pakistan, bringing closure to a family that had searched for him for 28 years.
Nasiruddin, who was 31 at the time of his disappearance in 1997, was found near the edge of the shrinking Lady Meadows glacier in Kohistan, a mountainous region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A local shepherd discovered his well-preserved body on July 31, still carrying his identity card. He was buried on Wednesday.
According to his family, Nasiruddin and his brother fled their village in 1997 following a dispute. While his brother survived, Nasiruddin reportedly fell into a crevasse and was never seen again.
“Our family left no stone unturned to trace him over the years. Our uncles and cousins visited the glacier several times to see if his body could be retrieved, but they eventually gave up as it wasn’t possible,” said Malik Ubaid, Nasiruddin’s nephew.
He added, “Finally, we have got some relief after the recovery of his dead body.”
Nasiruddin, known by a single name, was a husband and father of two at the time of his disappearance.
Kohistan lies along the outer reaches of the Himalayas. Pakistan hosts over 13,000 glaciers — the highest number outside the polar regions — but rising global temperatures driven by climate change are causing many of them to melt at an alarming rate.
The discovery has stirred fresh awareness of the environmental changes in the region, as receding glaciers continue to reveal long-hidden remains and remnants of the past.
