Three Italian tourists missing in Nepal floods as nationwide death toll tops 680

Missing travellers along the border

Nepalese authorities released an updated register of missing persons on Saturday, 29 August at 17:30 local time following destructive flooding and landslides along the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region. The list includes 52-year-old Luca Barachini, an Italian citizen and director of Consumer and Digital at Deloitte in Switzerland, and his 52-year-old partner Patrizia Marziale, a dual Italian-Swiss national and hockey player. Both reside in Lugano and had been travelling together through the Himalayan region. Officials also reported that Marco Ratto, a 50-year-old jeweller from Rapallo, Italy, remains unaccounted for after embarking on a trekking expedition. Local authorities noted that the missing individuals might be stranded in remote sectors where all communication networks were severed by the torrents of mud and water.

Twelve stages from Lhasa to Kathmandu

Barachini and Marziale had set out from Lhasa on a twelve-stage expedition across the Chinese side of the Himalayas toward Kathmandu. Their route passed through the Everest base camp area before heading toward the border crossing, where they arrived on 26 August. The couple regularly planned overseas journeys, having previously travelled to destinations including New York, the Dominican Republic, and Japan. On 22 August, four days before the flash flood hit the border region, Marziale published an online post showing the map of their planned stages.

Ask me if I am happy... Yes. Because I learned that happiness does not need big things. It is in a sincere smile, in a hug that arrives at the right moment, in a look that speaks without needing words. Happiness, in the end, is made of small moments... those that become memories and remain in the heart.

Relatives in Switzerland contacted the broadcaster RSI after losing communication with the couple for several consecutive days.

Toll across Nepal and hospital accounts

The disaster along the northern frontier forms part of a wider emergency across Nepal caused by heavy rain and flash floods. By 29 August, confirmed fatalities across the country exceeded 680, while the total number of missing people rose to nearly 3,000. In Kathmandu, the central hospital admitted survivors who were pulled from debris and mud flows. Among those treated were a 25-year-old monk who survived by clinging to a drifting tree trunk and a 21-year-old man swept away while sleeping in his bed during a sudden landslide. Other foreign travellers, including Italian tourists Valentina Piccinini and Stefano Lotumolo, managed to escape the deluge safely before rescue teams arrived.

Local community response in Italy

In Italy, municipal officials and family members have monitored the search operations conducted by Nepalese rescue teams. In Rapallo, where Marco Ratto operates a jewellery business, municipal leaders expressed solidarity with his relatives as they awaited updates from the Ministry of Tourism in Kathmandu. The mayor of Rapallo, Elisabetta Ricci, issued a public message addressing the ongoing efforts to locate Ratto.

I am in constant contact with Marco's family. I do so frequently, but with the utmost discretion, to respect their privacy and, at the same time, make them feel that the entire city of Rapallo is there with them, ready to support them.

Rescue teams continue to clear blocked mountain roads and establish emergency contact with isolated settlements in the border valleys.