BHUBANESWAR: Sixty-one year old Claudio Colangelo, abducted along with Paolo Bosusco is a traveller by passion. A former employee with a research institute in Rome and Colangelo has worked with volunteer projects internationally and doctors who provided support activities.
He was also associated with an international medical sciences and anthropological project in Peru called the “Amazon Promise” in which he worked with HIV afflicted children. He is described as “a great guy whose company is enjoyed by all but he was also one committed to the poor and less fortunate,” an Italian news agency reported.
It was his passion for travel and inclination to work for primitive groups which brought him to India. He had collaborated with General Manager of San Camillo Aldo Morrone. “He is a tireless traveller who works to bring hope, health and dignity to people who live in major developing countries, especially India and Latin America. I think he went to India for this purpose.” Morris was quoted by the news agency.
Claudio had come to India with his wife. He has a 32 year old daughter Valeria and a 35 year old son Daniel who had spoken to Paolo Bosusco, the travel operator from Puri, for the trip to India because of his father’s passion for the culture of primitive tribes. Morris was quoted saying that he was in Odisha because he wanted to study some aspects of poverty. “I do not understand how it happened because Paolo has decades of experience in the field. And both are familiar with such kind of places and their rules.”
Meanwhile, for the family members of Colangelo living in Rocca di Papa near Rome, support has been pouring in with people turning up to express solidarity ever since the news broke.