Seven Crystal Balls: Falconer, the "missing" explorer?

I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on what happened to Mark Clarkson, one of the expedition members struck down by the curse in The Seven Crystal Balls.

In this book he is travelling in a taxi when someone throws something through the window which puts him in coma but in Prisoners of the Sun we see the seven members of the expedition wake up as the effigies are burned but he isn't there. I seem to recall finding a website a couple of years ago which claimed to have the official reason, but I haven't been able to find it since.

Is there an official explanation out there?

You must be referring to Mark Falconer. Check out the entry on Falconer in our Tintin Characters Guide.

In 'Prisoners of the Sun', Professor Sanders-Hardiman calls Falconer "Carling" (page 60, frame 14), which strikes me as somewhat odd. Odder still, in the Chinese edition, which is supposed to be based on the English translation, the name reads something like "Xia-sang", and on the next page, "Reedbuck" inexplicably becomes "O-Nai-Er" (O'Neill).

Now, who are Carling, Xia-sang and O'Neill?!

I was yes, thanks!!:-)

Carling most probably is Mark Falconer, and I assume Carling is just another given name.
Besides, the man named Carling looks very much like Falconer himself, except his hair was a little messier in the hospital.

Moderator Note: It's actually just a slight error in the translation - see Ed's explanation here.