decomposition

County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to the scene but couldn’t determine the gender of the person due to the level of decomposition.

Mr Stephen's body was found in an advanced stage of decomposition.

The three others were found in "a very advanced state of decomposition", they added.

In the final ruling this week, the magistrate said that "due to the level of its decomposition" at the time of exhumation, it was too hard to say what had led to his death.

When a human body falls into a glacier, the extreme cold freezes it fast, preventing decomposition, said Prof Muhammad Bilal, head of the Department of Environment at Comsats University Islamabad.