A frozen corpse was found in Cerro Mercedario, in the municipality of Calingasta, in Saint Johnand researchers believe it may have belonged to a Tucuman climber who disappeared in the area more than 40 years ago.
Last Tuesday, January 24, a group of people who were traveling in the area discovered the body, which was attached to a glacier at 5,000 meters highand informed the authorities.
The agents of the Provincial Police arrived on the spot, together with the National Gendarmerie, who had to break the ice in order to extract the body. The air rescue ended on Saturday, with the support of the Prosecutor’s Office, Criminalistics and the Geras Group.
As it turned out, the body had remnants of mountaineering clothing. That’s why experts analyze whether it is Martha Emilia Altamiranoa woman who got lost there during an expedition in 1981.
At first, they linked the find to the disappearance of the German Andrea Colli in 2002. However, subsequent studies determined that the remains match a female between the ages of 18 and 30.
The body features the detachment of one of his feet and the victim is believed to have died while attempting to climb the more difficult slope of the mountain. The autopsy found that the death was caused by polytrauma.
Who was Marta Emilia Altamirano, the Tucuman climber
Maria Emilia Altamirano, nicknamed “Patty” was 20 years old when she started the journey with her sister Corina and boyfriend, Sergio Bossini. The three left March 23, 1981 from Barreal and stopped in the Hornadillas area, at the Álvarez Condarco detachment of the National Gendarmerie.
The next day, they based themselves at the foot of a 4,300-metre-high glacier, according to the report prepared at the time by the Andino de Tucumán Club.
They began the ascent of the mountain on Friday March 27th. At about 19:00 that day they camped on the ice for the night. According to Bossini and Corina, “Patty” went around the area to do a reconnaissance. It was then that “he didn’t take a step and slipped for hundreds of meters“.
Both began to go down to look for her, but the darkness of the night made their task difficult. The next morning they managed to find her, but it was already too late: she was dead. Time and terrain forced them to leave her there as they returned for help.
It was not until March 29 that they arrived at one of the Gendarmerie posts and told what had happened. They led a team of professionals to the scene of the tragedy, but the corpse had already been buried by snow.
Not giving up, Bossini returned the following year with other climbers in search of the body. But it was unsuccessful. Since then, María Emilia Altamirano has remained missing, although that could change after the DNA results of the recently found corpse are known.
“I spoke to ‘Patty’s brother and they are thinking of going to San Juan. I am concerned about the emotional situation of all of them. We are also surprised. This is very strong for his family, we have to wait for them to make the identification. But it is also about closing a cycle. More than forty-one years have passed,” said a family friend of the deceased climber in dialogue with St. John’s Weather.
Jorge Prieto, a San Juan doctor who currently resides in Córdoba and who participated in the search operation in 1982, was optimistic about this discovery. “There is no doubt that it is her. I’m absolutely sure. There is no other missing person, much less a woman. Everything coincides, ”he told the same media.
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Source: Clarin
