Body found in French Pyrenees likely that of Catalan hiker missing since December

The body of a man found on Sunday on the Rulhe peak, in the French Pyrenees, is suspected to be that of a Catalan hiker missing since December in that area.

Sources from the Gendarmerie told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that, based on the clothes, it is believed to be of Esteve Carbonell, a man from Berguedà who went missing in the mountains along with a woman in December.

The body has been transferred to Toulouse to identify it.

On December 7, 2024, Txell Fusté from Manresa, owner of a gym in the capital of Bages, and Esteve Carbonell from Girona, disappeared in the Rulhe area while hiking.

They are both experienced mountaineers and, until today, only their car had been located. According to local newspaper 'La Dépêche', a group of Spanish hikers found the man's body partially buried under snow on Sunday.

After several days of searching for the bodies after they went missing, and with two meters of snow built up in the area which made the search difficult, French authorities abandoned the search on the ground foot and continued it only by helicopter.