Body found in search for Londoners
family charityThe body of what is believed to be one of two British men missing in the Dolomites has been found, Italy’s mountain rescue agency said.
Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, from London, were last heard from on January 1 when they arrived from northern Italy. Trentino region sends message home. On January 6, they did not check in.
Rescue teams said a body was found “unfortunately buried under the snow” after a helicopter search resumed on Wednesday morning.
The discovery was made at high altitude and a phone signal from one of the men was last recorded, the report added.
Earlier Wednesday, the team released an update saying the men’s backpacks and gear were discovered during a search of the camping cabin where they were believed to be hiding.
Prior to this, a video taken on the day they were last heard from showed that they planned to leave the backpacks for a day before heading to the next valley.
In the video, Mr Ziriat said they had just stayed in “this little Bivacco – absolutely great little facility”.
He went on to say that they decided to leave the pack because they wanted to have a “fun” day.
Trentino Alpine and Cave RescueHelicopters also searched the area between the cabin and a nearby mountaintop earlier Wednesday, looking for any signals from reflective surfaces and electronic devices, but the team said none were found.
Rescue teams said they were continuing to search for the other man and were using a dog unit that specializes in avalanche searches.
The team added that the families of Mr Ziriyat and Mr Harris came to Italy and received support from psychologists.
Mr Ziriyat’s girlfriend Rebecca Dimmock had previously described the pair as “experienced hikers”.
She told the BBC: “They wanted to do a New Year’s hike. They wanted to go from hut to hut throughout the Dolomites.
“They were planning to go off the grid, so that’s not surprising at all,” she said.
public mediaMs Dimock added: “I think they want to spend some nights out in nature, breathing fresh air and sleeping in the wild.
“But they also wanted to go into the hut, light a fire and drink wine because it was New Year’s and they did because he messaged me one time and he was going up the mountain with a log to find a guy in the hut.
“I know they got to the cabin and they were drinking wine, but he said it was cold.”
