Jungle trekking is a popular sport in Malaysia and many are the stories told about unseen creatures and of figures appearing out of nowhere and disappearing just as quickly.

They are generally dismissed as myths and fairy tales. But truth can be stranger than fiction, and for more than 60 years, Russia has been trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of a group of hikers in Siberia.

In 1959, in what is known today as the Dyatlov Pass incident, eight men and two women formed a hiking expedition led by Igor Dyatlov that aimed to scale the peaks of Siberia.

Perhaps presciently, an entry in the group diary reads, “I wonder what awaits us on this hike? Will anything new happen?”

As they made their way through the deep snow, one of the hikers, Yuri Yudin, fell ill and left the group, taking photographs of his friends, not realising he would never see them alive again.

The hike through the wilderness seems to have gone on well for the most part, and the group soon reached the foot of Mount Ortorten. They ascended some 100 metres before deciding to camp for the night.

During this time, they would take the last photographs to be recovered from their cameras. The last entry in the diary reads, “It is difficult to imagine such a comfort on the ridge, with shrill howling wind, hundreds of kilometres away from human settlements.”

And then, silence.

The relatives of the group began to grow concerned about their safety, having heard nothing from them for weeks, even though they were supposed to have reached a nearby village.

Eventually, a search party was sent that reached the group’s camp. And there, baffling and disturbing sights were found.

The snow-blanketed tent had been slashed open from the inside and the group’s belongings were still there.

Nine pairs of footprints leading down the slope led the search party into the nearby forest where they found the remains of a campfire.

Two frozen bodies were found under a tree – almost naked, wearing only their underwear and stockings. Their exposed hands and feet were a strange reddish-brown colour. It was estimated that they had perished in temperatures of -30°C.

The tree under which they were found was damaged, with broken branches suggesting someone had tried to climb it.

Perhaps they had got lost and were trying to find their tent? They could also have needed branches for the fire. Or maybe they were hiding from someone. Or something.

Three other bodies would be recovered separately between the tree and the tent, clothed but lacking boots, hats and gloves.

Their bodies were facing towards the tent, indicating they were trying to return to the safety of camp when they died.

Autopsies would later find that they had all died of hypothermia and some had minor injuries on their bodies.

Three more bodies would be found the furthest away from the tent, and their injuries were far worse. One skull had been fractured, while the other two bodies had fractured ribs and some internal bleeding.

A doctor said the injuries, sustained when they were alive, were like those suffered from a fall and could not have been inflicted by a human.

It would take a few months before the last four bodies were recovered, when they were revealed by the melting snow.

Two of the bodies were missing their eyes and one of the women had a missing tongue. Another body was found with a broken nose and twisted neck. Even more mysteriously, some of the victims’ clothes were found to be radioactive.

The case would be closed by the authorities with a particularly vague conclusion, “The cause of death was an unknown compelling force which the hikers were unable to overcome.”

Distrustful of the Soviet government, most people were dissatisfied with this conclusion and created their own theories.

Some accused the local Mansi people of murdering the group, but harsh questioning by the Soviet authorities found no evidence. Ironically, the Soviets would later call on the Mansi to help find and recover the bodies.

The Mansi had their own story to tell, having spotted strange lights in the sky at the time.

It could have been a comet, but some people believe it was part of a Soviet military experiment.

The theory goes that the Soviets were testing a secret radioactive weapon that killed some of the group and left the rest fumbling around in panic before dying.

It is said that the Soviet secret police, the KGB, guarded the bodies closely and that the locals supposedly noted an increase in dead animals at the time.

An order was also issued that the locals could not drink the well water and hunting was forbidden in the area. But if the group had fallen victim to a secret weapons test, would the Soviet military really allow civilians to go looking for the victims?

Others believe the deaths were the result of a creature with some similarities to a yeti; the evidence mostly being based on a hiker’s blurry photograph with a humanoid figure in the background.

A more mundane explanation was the conclusion of an investigation last year, involving an avalanche.

So, what really did happen to these unfortunate souls? Whatever the case, it is likely that the mountains, forever unwavering in the face of howling winds, will never give up their secret.