TORONTO – Tragic climbs in Nepal in the last hours: two separate accidents, occurring within days of each other, have killed several mountaineers, and one, an Italian-Canadian, is missing.

The first accident involved two Italian climbers, Alessandro Caputo and Stefano Farronato, who were caught in an avalanche last Friday while attempting to climb Mount Panbari (6,887 meters) in the Himalayas. Today, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed their deaths: their bodies were found buried under three meters of snow. Farronato, 51, was originally from Bassano del Grappa (Vicenza). He was an experienced climber with a resume that included numerous expeditions to remote locations around the world and mountaineering excursions in Ecuador, India, and China. Caputo, 28, was a ski instructor originally from Milan. Expedition leader Valter Perlino, a 64-year-old from Pinerolo (Turin), survived by chance: he had reached about 6,000 meters with his two climbing companions, but then returned to base camp, at 4,800 meters, due to a foot problem. This was, in effect, his salvation.

The other accident occurred yesterday on Dolma Khang, a 6,300-meter peak on Nepal’s northern border. Numerous climbers were involved: Paolo Cocco, a 41-year-old Italian photographer and former deputy mayor of Fara San Martino (Chieti, Abruzzo); mountaineer and biologist Marco Di Marcello, a 37-year-old originally from Teramo but resident in Calgary, Alberta; 30-year-old South Tyrolean (Italy) Markus Kirchler; German climber Jakob Schreiber; French trekker Christian Andre Manfredi; and two Nepalese mountain guides, Padam Tamang and Mere Karki.

According to rescuers, climbers Cocco and Di Marcello were part of an expedition organized by Dreamers Destination Treks, along with Nepalese guide Padam Tamang. The other Italian, Kirchler, was with German mountaineer Jakob Schreiber, part of a separate Wilderness Outdoors team, while French hiker Manfredi was with Yatri Treks. In addition to them, three Nepalese and two French guides (Isabelle Solange Thaon and Didier Arman Berton) were found alive and airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.

Paolo Cocco was found dead: news of his body’s discovery was communicated to the climber’s brother and released by the Mayor of Fara San Martino, Antonio Tavani.

As of this writing, hope remains instead for the Italian-Canadian climber who was with Cocco, Marco Di Marcello. As the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reports, the radio satellite signal in his possession continued to update constantly every four hours: the last reading, today at 4:44 PM (Italian time), showed the 37-year-old’s position approximately 200 meters above the last signal. According to the data provided by the family, Di Marcello – Il Messaggero continues – could still be alive and walking – here below, the news on Il Messaggero.

Di Marcello is, indeed, a very experienced guide: he is a certified guide and member of the association of Canadian Mountain Guide, Biologist in Mitochondria Research Center at Austria, Explorer and active member of the Explora Nunaat International team since 2011, and he has a deep knowledge of those areas of Nepal, and the Himalayas in particular, which he proudly considers his second home – here a short biography.

Unfortunately, information about the other climbers (dead or missing?) is fragmentary: even the diplomatic authorities in Calcutta, responsible for Nepal, reports a very complex situation, with difficult communications and several families unable to contact their loved ones.

Furthermore, the surviving Nepalese guides reported delays in rescue efforts. The accident occurred in the rugged Rolwaling Valley, where helicopters can only access with various government permits. This reportedly stalled rescue efforts for hours, despite repeated calls from the ground.

In the pic above, Italian-Canadian mountaineer Marco Di Marcello in a photo from his Facebook page