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.

"We are convinced that Marco is alive and is trying to be found using all available resources," his brother Gianni said. "I'm sure he's set his tracker on distress alert, because it's been transmitting multiple positions, with a more frequent update. We see he's constantly moving, rising in altitude and at a distance of 500 meters from where he was previously. Then he turns back, and we believe he's found a tunnel, dug some sort of shelter—at least that's our hope—where he can hunker down to face the heat and the night. He's strong; Marco will make it."

In Bolzano, however, many are remembering 29-year-old Markus Kirchler, now considering his disappearance as certain even though his body has not been found or identified. His former high school, the Heinrich Kunter School of Economics in Bolzano, remembers him "as a thoughtful and determined young man, who approached his tasks with calm and passion."

The victims

What is certain at this time is that three Italians have died in the Nepalese mountains: 28-year-old Alessandro Caputo from Milan, 45-year-old Stefano Farronato from Veneto, and 41-year-old Paolo Cocco from Abruzzo. The first two were in the same group, while Cocco was part of a different expedition, which also included the missing Di Marcello and Kirchler . If still alive, they would be facing a third night in the open air in extremely harsh temperatures. According to Nepalese media reports, the discrepancy between the numbers provided by the Foreign Ministry and those of local authorities stems from the fact that "mountaineers" require authorization from the Department of Tourism, while "hikers" are exempt. According to official figures from the Department, 28 permits have been granted to Italian "mountaineers" this fall. Meanwhile, the Nepalese Tourist Office reportedly issued a staggering 2,705 permits to as many Italian "hikers" in October.

(Unioneonline)

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