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A man's body has been found at notorious Dyatlov Pass in Russia - the site of one of the most chilling mysteries of the Soviet era, where nine tourists were killed by an "unknown compelling force" in 1959.

The unidentified corpse was discovered by hikers in this treacherous region of the Ural Mountains, but weather conditions have not yet allowed police and emergency services to discover the cause of death - and now the group who found the male, who is approximately 50, is reported to be "missing" and out of contact.

Reports said the body of the man was found in a tent.

Roza Samarin, whose husband Mikhail, is among the group from Meridian mountaineering club in Perm reported to have found the body, said they have been out of touch for four days.

As with the group that disappeared in 1959, there are nine members of the party - after one dropped out.

"All nine members of the group are experienced tourists from Meridian club," she said.

(Image: Wikipedia)

"Some of them have made this trip before. The goal is to reach Manpupuner plateau. They will either reach it or not, it depends on the weather, the winter conditions in the mountains are tough.

"If they cannot get there in time, they will turn and go back."

But the discovery of the body - and the lack of contact from the group - has rekindled memories of the February 1959 incident which remains one of Russia's biggest unexplained and unsolved incidents, the subject of documentaries, movies, and computer games.

A group of graduates from the Ural Polytechnic Institute led by 23 year old Igor Dyatlov planned to trek 350 km on skis to Mount Otorten - translated in the local Mansi language as 'Don't go there' - in the Northern Urals.

The young and fit group failed to finish their route and a rescue team found a chilling scene that bemused Soviet investigators.

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They concluded the nine had fled in terror - and ran through the snow a mile or so down the mountain - from their tents in the deep nighttime cold. They did not have time to dress and some wore only socks, or underwear. Others were barefoot.

Some of the victims had fractured skulls and one woman, 21-year-old Lyudmila Dubinina, had her tongue missing.

A host of theories have been put forward as to how the group met their deaths - from a natural disaster such as an avalanche, to aliens, to Yeti, to a secret Soviet missile or weapons system, to paranormal activity, to claims the group - which included one or two with KGB connections - were on a mission to meet US agents.

An exhaustive Soviet investigation found that the nine had been killed by an "unknown compelling force" which they could not counter.

Boris Yeltsin - Russia's first post-Communist president and a former student at the institute - was one of many who believed an elaborate cover-up was staged to hide what happened.

(Image: Google)

But his efforts once in power in the Urals and later in Moscow failed to unmask the truth.

Police were told of the discovery of the new body in a midnight call on 8 January. The location was close to the Sulpa River.

"The message about finding of the unknown human remains by the tourists was received by Ivdel police on 8 January," said a statement from police in Sverdlovsk region.

"As soon as the weather conditions improve, the investigators, the rescue team and other policemen will go to the scene and check information about finding the dead body."

A tenth hiker, Yuri Yudin, had turned back a few days before the incident due to bad health.

One theory in 2014 suggested that the 1959 hikers could have lost their minds due to 'infrasound'.

The sinister phenomenon - which could have been caused by rare wind event - can cause feelings of unease, anxiety and even terror

In certain conditions, a flow of wind could be directed in such a way that it creates a vortex.

These vortices are created in sequences by the moving air, and travel away in a fan shape.

With sufficiently high winds and the correct angles, these vortices of wind could form powerful tornadoes, with the potential to emit large amounts of infra-sound, as well as cause damage by themselves