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2w ago

DNA Confirms Antarctic Glacier Remains as Those of Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell

Exposed by the retreat of Ecology Glacier, the remains were transported under coroner oversight to London for DNA analysis at King’s College London, bringing closure to Bell’s relatives.

Undated handout photo issued by British Antarctic Survey of Dennis Bell (right) christmas festivities with colleagues from Admiralty Bay Station, c.1958.
Undated handout photo issued by British Antarctic Survey of Dennis Bell (left) with his fellow colleagues and the dogs that helped them to work in Antarctica - Midwinter 1959 at Admiralty Bay Base.
Undated handout photo issued by British Antarctic Survey of Admiralty Bay Base on King George Island in 1951 where Dennis Bell was working.
Ecology Glacier on Antarctica’s King George Island in winter, where the body of Dennis “Tink” Bell was recovered

Overview

  • A Polish expedition at the Henryk Arctowski Station identified bone fragments and artifacts on Ecology Glacier in January and a follow-up survey recovered additional remains and more than 200 personal items.
  • The recovered fragments and effects were carried by the BAS research vessel Sir David Attenborough to the Falkland Islands and flown to London with RAF support under coroner Malcolm Simmons’s oversight.
  • DNA analysis by King’s College London forensic geneticist Denise Syndercombe Court matched the remains to samples from Bell’s brother and sister, conclusively confirming his identity.
  • Personal items recovered alongside the remains included radio equipment, a torch, ski poles, an inscribed Erguel wristwatch, a Swedish Mora knife and an ebonite pipe stem.
  • The identification brings long-awaited closure to Bell’s family and underscores the hazards of mid-20th-century Antarctic fieldwork revealed by modern glacier retreat.