Oetzi: The 5,300-year-old fall guy

Oetzi the prehistoric iceman may not have been murdered, say scientists, who now believe he could be the world's first known mountaineering victim.

The ancient natural mummy was believed to have died 5,300 years ago when he was hit by an arrow during a hunting trip.

Scientists - who examined his frozen remains when they were discovered frozen in the Alps between the Austrian and Italian border 20 years ago - thought he had then been finished off with a vicious club blow to the head.

Now new studies at Austria's Innsbruck University have revealed that Oetzi is more likely to have died during a fall while he was climbing.

Experts will now carry out a new body-mapping scan of his remains to check if his injuries could have been sustained accidentally.

Study head Wolfgang Recheis said: "His death could have been a mountaineering accident rather than him being shot by an arrow as previously thought. The arrow injury could have been an old injury."

Austrian Times