The remains of a British researcher – who disappeared in 1959 in Antarctica at the age of 25 – were discovered among rocks near a melting glacier and identified using DNA analysis, the British Antarctic Survey announced on Monday.

As the BBC reports, the man in question is Dennis “Tink” Bell, who was working as a meteorologist for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1959 when on July 26, 1959, he died by falling into a ravine – on the Admiralty Bay glacier on King George Island off the Antarctic Peninsula.

The body of the 25-year-old scientist, however, was never recovered.

His partner was trying to save him

According to the investigation, Bell and his partner, Jeff Stokes, left the base where they were staying to investigate a glacier using a dog sled.

The snow was very thick and the dogs were beginning to show signs of fatigue, so Bell walked to encourage them, but he wasn’t wearing his ski boots. So, suddenly, he fell into a ravine.

According to British Antarctic Survey records, as reported by BBC News, his partner threw a belt at Bell and pulled him to the edge of the gorge. However, when he reached the edge, the belt broke and Bell fell back into the gorge.

After a while he stopped responding to his partner, who was calling his name. Thus, all contact with the meteorologist was lost.

“We had given up the search for our brother years ago”

All that changed 66 years later thanks to a Polish team who discovered his remains.

The team also discovered more than 200 personal items, including a watch with an engraved inscription, a Swedish knife, radio equipment and ski baton.

“When my sister Valerie and I were informed that our brother Dennis had been found after 66 years, we were shocked and surprised,” Bell’s brother, David, told the British Antarctic Survey.

David Bell said the work of the British Antarctic Survey, the British Antarctic Monument Trust and the Polish team that brought Bell’s remains home “helped us come to terms with the tragic loss of our brilliant brother.”

“I had long ago given up the search for my brother. It’s just amazing, amazing. I can’t believe it,” David Bell, who is now 86, told BBC News.

“This discovery closes a decades-long mystery and reminds us of the human stories embedded in the history of Antarctic science,” said Jane Francis, director of the British Antarctic Survey.