Oetzi Bronze-age mummy discoverer missing in mountains

1.00pm - By TONY PATERSON in Berlin

The German mountaineer who discovered Oetzi, the internationally renowned Bronze-age mummy in a mountain glacier more than a decade ago, was missing and presumed dead yesterday, three days after he set off on a four-hour climbing tour in the Austrian Alps.

Austrian mountain rescuers said they had broken off an extensive search for 67-year-old Helmut Simon, who discovered Europe's oldest mummy on a mountain walking trip in 1991, because heavy snowfalls and the risk of avalanches had severely hampered their efforts.

"Our teams have been searching for Helmut Simon for days, but we have found no trace of him, "said Gerald Lehner a spokesman for the Salzburg-based rescue team.

"The chances of finding him alive are extremely slim," he added.

Mr Simon, a retired concierge from Nuremberg and passionate mountaineer, set off from Bad Hofgastein in the Austrian Alps on Friday morning for what was planned as a four-hour ascent of the 2465-meter Gamskarkogel peak.

His wife, Erika, alerted mountain rescue teams on Friday night after he failed to return. A 120-man search party, equipped with helicopters and sniffer dogs combed the area repeatedly over the weekend but found no sign of him.

Mr Lehner said that his chances of survival were low because temperatures on the mountain were below 5 degrees centigrade.

"Assuming that he did not suffer a heart attack, but was lying stranded somewhere in the area, he would have had no chance of surviving after Saturday night," Mr Lehner said.

"The ascent itself would have been no problem for an experienced mountaineer like Mr Simon. It should have only taken him four hours," he added.

The rescuers said that more than half a meter of snow had fallen in the area over the weekend and the risk of avalanches had caused them to break off their search.

"Even a helicopter could not identify a body under these conditions. Nobody could be found," said Gerald Krainz, one of the rescuers.

Mr Simon and his wife stumbled across Oetzi in a melting glacier while they were returning from a climbing tour in the South Tyrolean O(umlaut)tztal mountains in the autumn of 1991.

The discovery of the 5,300-year-old, immaculately preserved mummy was regarded as a scientific sensation and has since shed light on important aspects of the Bronze age.

However Oetzi's discovery also provoked an acrimonious row between Austria and Italy over ownership as the mummy was found on a border between the two countries which is still the subject of dispute.

After spending six years on display in a museum in Austrian Innsbruck, Oetzi was moved to a museum in Italian Bolzano, in 1997 when Italy was finally recognised as the owner.

Mr Simon's status as official discoverer of Oetzi was only confirmed by the Italian courts last year. Since then he has been fighting a legal battle to obtain a reward for his find.

Italy initially offered him Euros 25,000, which Mr Simon dismissed as inadequate. His lawyers have demanded Euros 250,000.

Mr Simon said he had been shabbily treated by the Italian authorities. He claimed that on a recent visit to the Bolzano museum, which attracts some 300,000 visitors a year, he and his wife were charged an entrance fee.

- INDEPENDENT