A Pakistani man who disappeared in 1997 was found nearly 30 years later after a shepherd found his body preserved in ice in the Supat Valley. Naseeruddin is said to have entered a cave when he was 31 years old and was never seen again. His family searched for him but could not find any traces of him or clues about his disappearance. For years, no one knew what had happened to him. The mystery has now been solved, as in July 2025, a local shepherd named Omar Khan discovered the missing man’s body fully intact. The surprising thing was that his clothes were also just the same, and he even had his ID on him in perfect condition, Khan told BBC Urdu.
Naseeruddin’s body was preserved in the glacial ice like a mummy for 28 years. He froze quickly, and his body lay there without any exposure to moisture and oxygen. His body was revealed because of the melting glaciers owing to climate change. Notably, Pakistan has around 7,000 glaciers, second only to Earth’s polar regions. But now they are melting just like the others because of the warming climate. Decreased snowfall and more sunlight directly reaching the glaciers have led to them losing mass.
Glaciers trap evidence of the world gone by, with even ancient viruses being found buried deep within them. Scientists regularly drill them to uncover secrets about what life was like on Earth thousands of years ago. In 1991, Ötzi, also known as The Iceman, was found in the Italian Alps. Its tissues and organs were also intact, and scientists could even see what he had eaten in his last meal. However, his freezing was different from what happened to the Pakistani man who underwent cryogenic freezing. In 2024, partial remains of mountaineer Sandy Irvine, who disappeared on Everest a century ago, were also recovered.
Antarctic ice sheet collapse
As global warming continues to threaten the world, more secrets could tumble out. The Antarctic ice sheet is also at risk of a major collapse. The “Doomsday Glacier”, also known as the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, is at risk of a collapse, and when that happens, global sea levels could rise to dramatic levels, threatening several coastal communities.(WION)
