Body found in search for missing Italy hikers

A body found in the search for two British men who went missing in the Dolomites is believed to be that of Samuel Harris, Italy's alpine rescue service has said.

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, from London, were last heard from on 1 January after sending messages home from the Trentino region in northern Italy. They did not check into their flight home on 6 January.

The rescue team said a body was found "unfortunately lifeless, buried under the snow" after a helicopter search resumed on Wednesday morning.

The discovery was made in a high-altitude area where a phone signal was last recorded from one of the men, it added.

In an update on Wednesday afternoon, the team said the body was believed to be that of Mr Harris and was found under snow at the foot of a rock face on Carè Alto mountain near Trento.

The statement said his cause of death was unclear but one possible cause was a fall "from above".

The rescue team added it was forced to abandon a search for Mr Ziriat, which had been using dog units specialised in avalanche searches, due to weather conditions.

The search will resume as soon as weather conditions allow, probably on Friday, the spokesperson added.

It comes after a video taken on the day they were last heard from revealed they had planned to leave their packs for a day before they moved on to the next valley.

The men's backpacks and equipment were found earlier on Wednesday during a search of a bivouac hut the pair are believed to have sheltered at.

The team added Mr Ziriat and Mr Harris' family members, who have come to Italy, were being supported by psychologists.

An area between the hut and the summit of a nearby mountain was also searched by helicopter for any signals coming from reflective surfaces and electronic devices, but the team said nothing was found.

Rebecca Dimmock, Mr Ziriat's girlfriend, 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 on going off-grid, so that's not unexpected at all," she said.

Ms Dimmock added: "I think they wanted to have some nights where they were out in nature and in fresh air and sleeping in the wild.

"But they also wanted to get into the huts and have fires and drink red wine because it was New Year's, which they did do, because he did message me at one point, and he was carrying a log up the mountain to one of the huts.

"I know they made it to the hut, and they were drinking red wine, but he said it was freezing."

Ms Dimmock said she last spoke to Mr Ziriat at about 10:00 GMT on New Year's Day.

"He sent some photos of the mountains and a couple of himself.

"He said his phone was about to die, but he would write back to me properly soon."

A few hours later, her messages were not being received by Mr Ziriat's phone, she continued.

"His phone had obviously died at that point, or he was out of range," she said.

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