This undated picture released by the police in canton Valais shows the place at Hohlaub Glacier near Saas Fee, Switzerland where the body of a German hiker was found. The remains of the German hiker who disappeared while climbing in the Swiss Alps 30 years ago has been found at the Hohlaubgletscher above Saas Fee, Switzerland, on July 25 2017 by two climbers, police said on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. (Police of Canton Valais/Keystone via AP)

This undated picture released by the police in canton Valais shows the place at Hohlaub Glacier near Saas Fee, Switzerland where the body of a German hiker was found. The remains of the German hiker who disappeared while climbing in the Swiss Alps 30 years ago has been found at the Hohlaubgletscher above Saas Fee, Switzerland, on July 25 2017 by two climbers, police said on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. (Police of Canton Valais/Keystone via AP)

GENEVA (AP) — Police in southwestern Switzerland have found in an Alpine glacier the remains of a German hiker who went missing almost exactly three decades ago.

The regional Valais police department said Wednesday the remains of the unidentified man were found after two hikers last week happened upon a hand and a pair of shoes sticking out of the Hohlaub Glacier, 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of the famed Matterhorn.

Lab tests identified the deceased man, who was in his mid-40s when he went missing on Aug. 11, 1987. Valais police spokesman Markus Rieder said the victim’s family has been informed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Swiss authorities recently have been finding the bodies of adventurers who have gone missing in Alpine ice and snow. Rieder said authorities believe global warming has increasingly caused glaciers to retreat, raising the likelihood of finding more such human remains.

Last month, authorities found the bodies of a Swiss couple nearly 75 years after they went missing on the Tsanfleuron glacier, 70 kilometers (45 miles) away from Hohlaub.

Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, the 79-year-old surviving daughter of Marcelin Dumoulin and his wife Francine, said her parents had set off on foot to feed their animals on Aug. 15, 1942, but never returned.