Falling glacier kills three men on boat

Kayakers discover bodies in lake

An aerial view of the Valdez Glacier (OPEN EARTH PROJECT VIA REUTERS)

Three men are believed to have been killed by ice falling from a melting glacier in Alaska.

Two German citizens and an Austrian man were found dead in Valdez Glacier Lake, around 120 miles east of Anchorage.

The bodies were discovered in an area that “was littered with floating icebergs, glacial slush and challenging terrain for recovery,” according to a Valdez City spokesperson.

Those conditions, plus the location of the remains near the lowest end of Valdez Glacier, suggested that falling glacial ice killed the boaters.

“Because of the ice debris in the area where they were found, that is what leads us to suspect that is what happened,” the spokesperson added.

At least one of the victims was left with a severe head trauma.

There were no eyewitnesses to the deaths. The three bodies were found by kayakers on Tuesday.

The state medical examiner’s office will determine what killed the men shortly, the spokesperson said.

The victims were identified as Manfred Brida, 62, of Austria, and Maria Elisabeth Schroer, 68, and Albrecht Paul Thomas Schroder-Shroer, of Germany.

The three had been boating in an inflatable canoe-type craft, which was recovered from the scene, along with the victims’ other belongings.

Additional reporting by agencies