A hiker has uncovered aircraft wreckage on the Hüfifirn glacier in Uri, Switzerland, prompting cantonal police and the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board to link the debris with high probability to a 1963 crash near the Clariden Pass. Around 250 kilograms of material were recovered on 3 September with support from the Swiss Air Force mountain detachment, a private helicopter operator and a transport company, before being sent for disposal.
Investigators identified the debris as aircraft material from one of two non-fatal accidents recorded in the same glacier area in May 1963. The exact aircraft could not be confirmed from the recovered pieces alone because key components were still missing, including the engine in some reports.
Authorities said older wrecks were often left in place because recovery methods were limited at the time. The latest find adds to a growing list of artefacts exposed by glacier retreat in the Alps, where shrinking ice can reveal long-buried accident sites decades after the original event. Hikers were told to mark suspicious objects and alert police rather than move them.