The mummified body of an American climber who went missing 22 years ago has been found in the ice in Peru.
59-year-old William Stampfl of Chino, California, was climbing the 6,768-metre Mount Huascaran in 2002 when tragedy hit.
Stampfl and his two friends, Steve Erskine and Matthew Richardson, were climbing the mountain when an avalanche took them out.
Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche. Richardson’s body has still not been found.
According to police, Stampfl’s body, clothes, boots, and harness had been preserved by the freezing temperatures.
His driver’s license and passport were also found on him.
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Recall that on 19th September 1991, German couple Erika and Helmut Simon were exploring the Ötztal Valley region of the Austrian Alps when they came across the corpse of a human who they assumed was a mountain climber who had an accident.
As it turned out, the mummified corpse had actually been in the ice for more than 5,300 years. The Iceman mummy was given the nickname of Ötzi.
His belongings, scattered around the body, included a bow and quiver with arrows, a complete copper-bladed axe, a flint dagger with a wicker sheath, two birch wood vessels clad with maple leaves, remnants of a backpack, a leather pouch with small objects, fur and leather garments, shoes, and other minor artefacts.
Because of the presence of an arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder and various other wounds, researchers believe Ötzi was murdered.
