A pair of well-preserved bodies - possibly climbers buried in an avalanche more than half a century ago - have been discovered embedded in the ice on the slopes of a volcano in Mexico.
The first body was discovered when a climber attempting to ascend the 5,610-metre Pico de Orizaba, Mexico’s highest peak, slipped and spotted a mummified human head and arm protruding from the snow not far below the summit.
The second body was uncovered 150 metres away when rescuers attempted to bring down the first for forensic tests.
According to reports in the local media, the bodies may be those of two climbers from Mexico City among a party of three who disappeared in an avalanche 55 years ago.
The two dessicated bodies were found still wearing scraps of clothes, which might help with identification. Since news first broke of the discovery, relatives of several missing climbers from as far away as Germany and Spain have contacted the Mexican authorities.
On Thursday, 12 local civil protection mountaineers left before dawn to try to recover the bodies, but were forced to abandon their efforts because of bad weather.
"It was impossible to conduct the rescue this time. Fog prevented the work," said Juan Navarro, mayor of the town of Chalchicomula de Sesma, near the mountain in central Puebla state.
The mountain, also known as the Citlaltepetl volcano, is the world's second highest volcano after Mount Kilimanjaro, and is popular among climbers.
There have been several instances of bodies turning up in glaciers decades after a person disappeared. Freezing or desiccation sometimes preserves bodies in a state similar to mummification.
The Guardian