Police clarify death of glacier victim

Local police in Lhari county of the Tibet autonomous region on Monday officially confirmed that Wang Xiangjun, the 30-yer-old the Chinese adventurer and glacier hiker, was killed on Dec 20 after accidentally slipping into a glacier water fall.

The cause of his death became suspicious but the police statement gave details of its large-scale investigation.

Known as "Glacier Bro" on social media, Wang reportedly died after falling into the  waterfall on Dec 20. After a week, his younger brother confirmed his death with a statement on social media, and search for the remains of the victim has been underway for the last two months.

However, the cause of his death became suspicious with the emergence of a noise reduction processed video related to the tragedy that went popular on social media on Jan 22, and an online rumor that Wang was suspected to have been killed by his partner started to spread on social media.

A large-scale investigation of the case was performed afterward, within 20 days, more than 30,000 km of journey have been made in six provinces and cities, more than 80 people were questioned and investigated, 21 recordings have been made, and two scene investigations have been conducted.

After careful investigation, the noise reduction processed video has been sent to professionals to verify, and the results show that the video isn't related to the case, and finally, police said Wang accidentally slipped into the water fall.

As an environmental protection promoter, the 30-year-old glacier-chaser had photographed more than 70 glaciers in Southwest China over the past seven years. In December 2019, Wang was invited as a guest speaker to the UN Climate Change Conference COP 25 to share his experience of shooting glaciers.

He made it his mission to get up close and personal with glaciers, hoping to raise awareness in China and beyond about climate change and global warming.