A weeklong search for two missing climbers in the Italian Alps has ended in tragedy after rescuers found their bodies at the bottom of a crevasse in the Gran Paradiso massif. The two Romanian nationals had not been heard from since leaving a mountain refuge on July 9, prompting several days of helicopter searches across the rugged mountain range in Italy’s Aosta Valley. Authorities said the pair died after plunging into a crevasse roughly 65 feet deep, where their bodies were recovered Monday morning. Their names and ages have not been released. Gran Paradiso rises to 13,300 feet within Italy’s oldest national park and is a popular destination for climbers. Mountain accidents remain a persistent hazard in Italy. Earlier this year, 13 backcountry skiers, climbers, and hikers died in a single week, and the country recorded 528 mountain accident deaths in 2025, a 13 percent increase from the year before.
