19 living male relatives of Iceman mummy discovered

Washington: A genetic study has found 19 living male relatives of Otzi the Iceman, in the Austrian Tyrol.

According to scientists from the Institute of Legal Medicine at Innsbruck Medical University analyzed DNA samples from 3,700 blood donors in the Tyrol region of Austria.

During the study, the researchers found that 19 individuals shared a particular genetic mutation with the 5,300-year-old mummy, whose full genome was published last year.

People having the same mutations are categorized in haplogroups. Designed with letters, they allow scientists to trace early migratory routes as they are often linked with defined populations and geographical regions.

And Otzi's halogroup G, sub category G-L91, is rare in Europe.

The mummy was discovered in 1991 in a melting glacier in the Otztal Alps.