The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms the information in its possession regarding Italian citizens involved in a series of avalanches in Nepal in recent days.
The arrival in Kathmandu of the consul in Calcutta, responsible for Nepal, has allowed for intensified contact with Nepalese authorities and various tour operators. The deaths of three Italian mountaineers have been confirmed: Alessandro Caputo, Stefano Farronato, and Paolo Cocco. Marco Di Marcello and Markus Kirchler remain "missing" with "slim chances of survival." The search for the two missing will resume tomorrow in a well-defined area. As for the five Italians from the province of Como, currently unreachable due to being trekking in an area without cell phone coverage, their condition will be assessed tomorrow, when contact is expected with the responsible local agency.
The drama
What should have been memorable stories of feats among snow and glaciers risk turning into a tragic tale of a massacre of Italians who in recent days have undertaken the ascent of Nepal's peaks.
Following yesterday's confirmed deaths, seven more are missing today, including Marco Di Marcello and Markus Kirchler, the two missing since last Monday. Hopes of finding them alive are now fading, due not only to the prohibitive temperatures but also to the difficulty for rescue teams in reaching the avalanche area. However, there appears to be a glimmer of hope for the other five. The group, in fact, failed to communicate with the agency responsible for the excursion, as planned, alerting those working on the rescue effort. The five, who departed from Como, are believed to be on a different route than Di Marcello and Kirchler and are expected to resume connections with Italy tomorrow, which, however, remains on hold. Supporting this hypothesis is also a statement from the Nepalese Department of Tourism, which states that it "has no news of the seven missing Italian climbers."
"They could be hikers," adds Department Director Himal Gautam, quoted by local media. Yet another day of apprehension and anticipation has passed in Castellalto, in the Teramo province, hometown of Marco Di Marcello, a 37-year-old biologist with a passion for the mountains. Yesterday, the body of his friend and fellow Italian photographer Paolo Cocco was recovered by rescuers, but Di Marcello's family remains optimistic, relying on the GPS signal that continues to update every four hours.
