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The remains of a British meteorologist who died in Antarctica 66 years ago have been discovered in a melting glacier, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has confirmed.
Dennis “Tink” Bell, then 25, perished on July 26, 1959, after falling into a crevasse on a glacier at Admiralty Bay on King George Island.
His remains were located by a team from the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station on January 19, exposed by a receding glacier, the BAS announced Monday.
Bone fragments were transported to the Falkland Islands aboard the BAS Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough, then handed to Malcolm Simmons, the coroner for British Antarctic Territory, who brought them to London from Stanley.
DNA testing at King’s College London definitively matched the remains with samples from Mr Bell’s brother, David, and his sister, Valerie Kelly.
“When my sister Valerie and I were notified that our brother Dennis had been found after 66 years we were shocked and amazed,” David Bell, now living in Australia, said.
“The British Antarctic Survey and British Antarctic Monument Trust have been a tremendous support and, together with the sensitivity of the Polish team in bringing him home, have helped us come to terms with the tragic loss of our brilliant brother.”
Mapped: Admiralty Bay on King George Island
Bell trained as a radio operator in the Royal Air Force before joining the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (Fids) as a meteorologist in 1958.
He was stationed for a two-year assignment at Admiralty Bay, a small UK base with half a dozen men, on King George Island – one of the South Shetland Islands which lie in the Southern Ocean about 124 miles off the northern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
On July 26 1959, Mr Bell and three of his colleagues – meteorologist Ken Gibson, surveyor Jeff Stokes, and geologist Colin Barton – left base with two dog sledges to climb the glacier and carry out survey and geological work.
But on the way up, the soft snow made the journey difficult, and the dogs began to show signs of tiredness.
“To encourage them Bell went ahead… tragically without his skis,” the BAS said.
“Suddenly he disappeared leaving a gaping hole in the crevasse bridge through which he had fallen.”
According to accounts in the British Antarctic Survey records, Mr Stokes made a first attempt at lifting Mr Bell out of the hole using a rope.
But Mr Bell had tied the rope around his belt, which broke as he reached the lip of the crevasse.
After this second fall, Mr Bell no longer responded to calls from Mr Stokes.
“That’s a story I shall never get over,” Mr Bell’s brother David told the BBC.
open image in gallery
Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell (far right) during Christmas festivities at Admiralty Bay Base on King George Island in 1958 (BAS/PA)
Mr Stokes later met with Gibson and Barton coming down the glacier, and the three men made another attempt at finding Mr Bell.
But weather conditions rapidly deteriorated, and they were not able to reach the crevasse in time, according to the BAS records.
“It was probably 12 hours before we found the site and there was no way he could have survived,” Ken Gibson said.
“The confirmation of the remains found on Ecology Glacier as those of Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell is both a poignant and profound moment for all of us at British Antarctic Survey,” Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS, said.
“Dennis was one of the many brave Fids personnel who contributed to the early science and exploration of Antarctica under extraordinarily harsh conditions.
“Even though he was lost in 1959, his memory lived on among colleagues and in the legacy of polar research.
“This discovery brings closure to a decades-long mystery and reminds us of the human stories embedded in the history of Antarctic science.”
David Bell added: “Dennis was the oldest of three siblings and was my hero as he seemed to be able to turn his hand to anything, servicing petrol engines, photography including processing his own films.”
The Polish expedition which recovered Mr Bell’s remains also found over 200 personal items, including the remains of radio equipment, a flashlight, ski poles, an inscribed Erguel wristwatch, a Swedish Mora knife, ski poles, and an ebonite pipe stem.