Two possibly decades-old mummified bodies were discovered Thursday thousands of feet up Mexico's highest mountain, the Agence France-Press has learned.
A team of 12 mountaineers from a civil protection group journeyed up Pico de Orizaba in Puebla state after climbers reported seeing a frozen skull nearly 1,000 feet from the peak of the more than 18,000-foot mountain.
The team located the body- as well as a second mummified body a few hundred feet away.
Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltepetl volcano, is a popular tourist attraction marred by a history of fatal accidents, AFP reported. Investigators believe the remains could be two of three Mexicans that were reported missing in an avalanche on the mountain in 1960.
Calls also came pouring in from people in Germany and Spain who thought the bodies were missing loved ones, according to Juan Navarro, mayor of the town of Chalchicomula de Sesma, which lies near the mountain.
But the corpses were too far up the mountain for them to be immediately removed for identification.
"It was impossible to conduct the rescue this time. Fog prevented the work," Navarro told AFP.
The bodies are expected to be removed over the weekend and will be flown to the Puebla state prosecutor's office in for DNA testing.
