A body has been found in the search for two British hikers who went missing in the Italian Dolomite mountains, rescuers have confirmed.
Aziz Ziriat, 36, and his friend Samuel Harris, 35, both from London, were hiking in the Dolomites in northern Italy but have not been heard from since 2.20pm on New Year’s Day. .
In a video sent to friends before they disappeared, they had detailed plans to climb a 3,000-meter mountain on January 1.
But family and friends became concerned when the two explorers missed their return flights to Britain on January 6 and alerted Italian authorities, who launched an urgent search, which has been hampered by heavy snow and strong winds.
The last known location of Mr Ziriat, who works for Crystal Palace’s Palace for Life foundation, and Mr Harris was near a cottage called Casina Dosson, which is near the town of Tione Di Trento, near Riva del Garda, on Lake Garda.
Italy’s alpine rescue service resumed the helicopter search on Wednesday morning amid improving weather conditions and tragically confirmed that a body had been found at around 2,600m.
A spokesperson for Italy’s CNSAS (National Alpine Cave and Cliff Rescue Corps) said ground teams found a body in the Passo di Conca area “sadly deceased, buried under the snow.”
Rescuers had been searching the area after tracking down a “phone belonging to one of the two mountaineers.” They confirmed that the search for the second mountaineer would continue and that the families of both men had been informed.
Aziz Ziriat (left), 36, and his friend Samuel Harris, 35, both from London, were hiking in the Dolomites in northern Italy but have not been heard from since 2:20 p.m. of New Year.
Aziz Ziriat (pictured), 36, works for Crystal Palace’s Palace for Life Foundation
Their families and friends became concerned when the two hikers (Mr Harris is pictured above) missed their flights back to Britain on January 6 and alerted Italian authorities, who launched an urgent search.
An investigation into the circumstances of the incident is underway, the spokesperson said.
Earlier on Wednesday, rescuers said the men’s backpacks and equipment were found during a search of a bivouac hut where they are believed to have taken shelter.
It comes after a video taken on the day they were last heard from revealed they had planned to leave their backpacks for a day before moving to the next valley.
The discovery of a body comes just hours after Ziriat’s girlfriend, Bex Dimmock, said his disappearance “just doesn’t make sense.”
Breaking down in tears on Good Morning Britain, Mrs Dimmock said this morning: “There are so many different possibilities and scenarios, that’s the hardest thing.” “It doesn’t make sense and we don’t know what decisions they have made.”
He added: “They have a lot of experience, they have been through really tough conditions.”
‘On this trip, they had a plan to go from cabin to cabin and if the weather permitted they would sleep outside.
“They had a nice route planned where they would end up at Lake Garda and spend some time in that town before returning.”
Friends of the hikers revealed this morning that the helicopters were focusing on a “very specific area” this morning, including two cabins.
In another interview with the BBC, Mrs Dimmock said: “They wanted to do a New Year’s walk. They wanted to go from hut to hut in the Dolomites.
“They were planning to go offline, so it’s nothing unexpected.”
Rescuers confirmed that the search for the second climber would continue and that the families of both men had been informed.
An investigation into the circumstances of the incident is underway, rescuers said.
Rescue teams publish images of the search for the two missing hikers in the Dolomites.
Aziz took a video before he and Samuel left, which was shared with MailOnline.
An image of the mountain hut where the men were staying that was included in Aziz’s video.
‘I think they wanted to have some nights where they were in nature, outdoors and sleeping in nature. They have all the equipment and have hiked before.
‘But they also wanted to go into the cabins and make bonfires and drink red wine because it was New Year’s, which they did, because at one point he sent me a message and was carrying a log up the mountain to one of the cabins.’
She added: “I know they came to the cabin and were drinking red wine, but he said it was very cold.”
He said he last spoke to Ziriat around 10:00 GMT on New Year’s Day.
“He sent some photos of the mountains and a couple of himself,” he said. “He said his phone was about to die, but he would respond to me properly soon.”
He said that a few hours later, his messages were not received on Mr. Ziriat’s phone.
“His phone had obviously been turned off at that point, or was out of reach,” he said.
Desperate friends of the missing couple also revealed the moment their GPS tracker went dark.
Joseph Sheppard, a friend of Mr Ziriat, who is helping to coordinate the rescue, told The Times: “(Ziriat and Harris) were in a specific rifugio (shelter) and it looked like they were going to (try to) make it to the next shelter, which was on the other side of a mountain. So they had to go up one and go back down.
‘Their tracking (system) followed them from the shelter to the mountain, it seems like they practically made it to the top and then the tracking stops.’
Bex Dimmock (center) was visibly emotional as she talked about finding her boyfriend Aziz Ziriat on Wednesday morning.
Descriptions of Aziz and Samuel have been shared, including an image of the clothing Sam is believed to have been wearing.
It comes after MailOnline revealed the two missing Britons took images revealing their plans to climb 3,000 meter Italian mountains on New Year’s Day before disappearing.
In the video, Ziriat says the couple will leave their usual large backpacks at home.
The 36-year-old explained that he and Harris had been “carrying” them up and down the valleys for the last two days of the trip.
Speaking to the camera while standing outside the mountain hut in his flip-flops, Mr. Ziriat says: “Happy New Year! I woke up to delicious sunshine and a blue sky.
“Since we arrived there hasn’t been a single cloud in the sky, which is a little disconcerting but also quite funny.”
“I want to attack this today, get up to some of the 3,000 bits up there.”
“Hoping to spend a day running around, today we won’t be carrying our backpacks, for the last two days dragging this godforsaken valley, another day frolicking before crawling into the next valley,” he adds in an expanded version of the clip.
It also moves towards the ‘World War I bunker’ where they had stayed before disappearing.
Before the body was located, his friend Joe Stone said: “They are experienced hikers and go a couple of times a year.” It wasn’t surprising that they had no signal as they like to go off the grid. However, alarm bells went off when they did not show up for their flight on January 6.
‘The helicopters are now searching in two specific places: two shelters. We believe that will be the best opportunity for success.
“We are all waiting anxiously and the next few hours are crucial.”
Ziriat, who is 6ft 3in, was a student at Brighton University, while Harris, who is 5ft 11in, went to Oxford Brookes.
They both attended Teddington School in Teddington, south west London.