Missing Frenchman, last seen in Joshimath on 13 December 2011

Hello,

I thought maybe someone could help with this

This Frenchmen named Gerard Di Cicco, aged 58, went to do trekking in Nepal and North India in November 2011. He was last seen in Joshimath on December 13th and his family hasn't heard of him since. He was supposed to go back to France on January 13th.







His wife and 3 children are very worried about him. French and Indian authorities haven't been very helpful so far. His wife and sister went to North India last Wednesday to find out more.

If someone has seen him or knows anything, please let us know. Thank you

Bump. Lots of trekkers on this site with good connections ......

Another bump to the top

Hello,

Thanks for your replies.

Gerard di Cicco is of medium built, with dark greying hair and wears glasses. He is a retired primary school teacher who practices many sports like skiing, kayak, trekking and cycling. He also has a passion for writing and carries everywhere a small notebook on which he writes his thoughts.
He is an outgoing and talkative person. He went to do trekking on his own in the Himalayas for two months, between November 2011 and January 2012. He was supposed to be back to France earlier this week.

Gerard had a last contact with his family in an email on December 13th (he used to email them from internet cafes every 3 days while in Nepal and Northern India)
In this email he was telling his wife she needn't worry about him, because he was healthy and "very careful about everything". As an example, he said he could tell the difference between local people, who are straighforward and friendly, and those who only see him as a tourist with money.

The main explanation to his disappearance is that he might have had an accident while going trekking, in which case there is very little hope as the authorities haven't tried to search for him in the days/weeks following his disappearance. However, Gerard was cautious and had already gone trekking in the area before. He wouldn't stray away from tracks and roads, especially knowing he was going there in winter and weather conditions werent good.
The strange thing is that he withdrew money twice before disappering, on December 9th and December 13th, which was something unusual for him.

For those who know the area, is it safe for tourists and foreigners? Has there been any reports of tourists being attacked or disappearing?
thank you for reading and please spread the word

Joshimath the place where Gerard was last seen is a very good place.I have not heard anyone being attacked or harassed there.So any harm from people there is minimum.In december most trek route is closed due to snow condition.Possible route is Kuanri Pass,Auli for skiing.
I feel the tension of his family and hope he get back soon.

Thank you for your support and this information
It would be surprising he went trekking if most routes were closed, so there is still hope... Maybe he went somewhere of his own will, but it would be very unusual from him not to inform his family
I am aware there are very few tourists in the area at that time of year, but maybe someone could have seen him after Dec 13th...
Will keep you posted

No news from him yet... It is quite possible he may have gone trekking to the Valley of Flowers despite the road being closed, because he made mention of it in a notebook which was found in his hotel room in Joshimath, together with other belongings.

There has been heavy snow in the area recently, so it is very difficult to conduct a search right now. Two of his family members are still in North India looking for him.

Valley of flowers and its way is surely under thick cover of snow.Nobody lives there this time.I think his family members had contacted SDM & DFO.
Mr. M.S. Mehta 09910532720 msmehta@merapahad.com (Delhi)
Mr. Anubhav upadhyay 09810077696 anubhav.upadhyay@merapahad.com
Mr. Hem Pant 09720454001 hempantt@merapahad.com (Rudrapur)
Mr. Pankaj Singh Mahar 09412005856 psmahar@merapahad.com (Dehradun)
You can contact this persons who can probably show you some way.Hope he come back soon.

So sad for family and totally disgusted by the french authorities trying not to help.. Indian authorities i understand they are just plain rude and lazy ass bumssince i am indian and they dont tend to care about incidents like this unless someone from higher up put some pressure on them.. If the family is reading this try to contact some kind of ministers and stuff and see if they can put some pressure in the investigations. Money will help.... i am just suprised french authorities are not going anything.....My prayers with the family and keep looking and keep high hopes

Thank you very much for the contacts, I've passed them onto the family

Regarding the French authorities, when the family informed them of his disappearance, they did nothing except passing on info from the Indian police who hardly bothered to go to his hotel to retrieve some belongings (they didn't even list the belongings properly)

I think the reason why they did so little is mainly political and, as you said: money.
No one is interested in a tourist lost in the Himalayas (if it had been a hostage taken in Sahara, they would have done everything to publicize it and to "save" him at all costs)

Now if he had an accident, there is very little hope one and a half month later, and with all this snow...But we still hope
Thanks again

Just wanted to ask and see if you had any updates and i totally understand what you are saying. Indian police really dont do a lot wihtout extra money and with cases like this they wont do even after getting paid extra money since they know who is gonna care if they did it or not since we are in different countries and he in india and there is no way to cordinate.

I hope you had some good news even if it is in terms of bad news since any news is some news than just no news. I would try to go to french news channel and see if they are interested in doing anything for you and publish these story. sometimes this stuff brings in result

A bump to the top - hoping someone who knows the area has some ideas or can help.

*bump*

Has Gerard been found? The thread appears to have stopped. I'm part of the find Jonathan Spollen group. I noticed that some of the IM members are also active on bothy threads. As Joshimath is also on our radar, It would be helpful for an update on Gerard.

You could ask the IM Mod's to contact the original poster Himalaya's 2012 for an update on this???