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Iceman discoverer claims reward By Bethany Bell BBC correspondent in Bolzan Bones of contention: How much is Oetzi worth? A German man who in 1991 discovered the 5,300-year-old iceman, Oetzi, in the Alps is now demanding up to $250,000 as a finder's reward. The provincial government of Bolzano in northern Italy, where Oetzi is a star tourist attraction, says it is considering its response. The iceman was found in the Oetztal valley on the Austrian-Italian border by Helmut Simon and his wife Erika. At first the couple thought it was a mountaineer who had had an accident. It turned out...

VIENNA (Reuters) - The man who 13 years ago found the frozen remains of a prehistoric iceman in an Alpine glacier has disappeared in the snow-covered Alps with little hope of being found. A member of the mountain rescue team at Bad Hofgastein in Austria told Reuters on Monday that Helmut Simon, the German man who found the 5,300-year-old mummified body while hiking on the border of Austria and Italy in 1991 has been missing for three days. "There's a lot of snow up there," the rescuer, who did not want to be named, said about the 2,467-metre (8,000-ft) Garmskarkogel...

For 13 years, mountaineer Helmut Simon had basked in the glory of his unique encounter with history. In 1991, the 67-year-old German discovered Otzi the Iceman, the perfectly preserved body of a Neolithic hunter, emerging from the Similaun glacier, 3,200m (10,500ft) up the Austrian Alps. Wherever he went in his beloved Alps, Simon wore a badge identifying himself as 'Discoverer of Otzi'. But yesterday, Simon's body was found in a stream in these same mountains. On 15 October, the pensioner departed alone from the village of Bad Hofgastein, near Salzburg, up the 2,134m (7,000ft) Gamskarkogel peak. His wife, Erika, who...

Death renews iceman 'curse' claim Should working with Oetzi carry a health warning? The death of a molecular biologist has fuelled renewed speculation about a "curse" connected to an ancient corpse. Tom Loy, 63, had analysed DNA found on "Oetzi", the Stone Age hunter whose remains were discovered in 1991. Dr Loy died in unclear circumstances in Australia two weeks ago, it has been announced, making him the seventh person connected with Oetzi to die. Colleagues and family of Dr Loy have rejected the notion that he was the victim of a "curse". It is not known how many people...