THE GUARDIAN 🔵 Friend of British hiker missing in Italy voices ‘acceptance’ as search continues

A close friend of a British hiker who has been missing in the Dolomites since New Year’s Day has said “there is an acceptance that it won’t be good news” as search efforts continued.

Sam Harris, 35, and Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, last sent messages home on 1 January and the pair did not check in to their flight home on 6 January. Friends and relatives have travelled to Italy.

The body of Harris was found on Wednesday buried in deep snow at the foot of a cliff about 2,600 metres (8,500ft) above sea level in the area of the Conca pass in the Adamello nature park.

Joe Stone, a university friend of Ziriat, told the PA Media news agency that the authorities were “trying everything” to find the 36-year-old, who has now been missing for 10 days.

“There is an acceptance among us that it’s not going to be good news,” Stone said on Saturday. “But it would be really nice to find him and be put out of this limbo.”

The pair’s last known location had been a mountain hut called Casina Dosson, close to the town of Tione di Trento, near Riva del Garda on Lake Garda.

Italy’s national alpine cliff and cave rescue corps said on Saturday that the search for Ziriat, who works for the Crystal Palace FC charity Palace for Life, had resumed at first light.

About 40 rescuers were airlifted to high altitudes and were digging into the snow to search for Ziriat in the area where Harris’s body was found.

On Wednesday, the alpine rescue service said ground teams had found a body “sadly deceased, buried under the snow” in the area of Passo di Conca.

The rescue teams had been searching the area after tracking a “phone of one of the two mountaineers”.

They said the “dynamics of the accident are still being examined by the police but it is possible that the mountaineer fell from a height”.

Palace for Life posted on X: “We are aware of reports that the body of Sam Harris has been recovered.

“We are devastated to receive this news and our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his loved ones.

“No further information is currently available regarding the whereabouts of Aziz.”

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Friday: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in northern Italy and are in contact with the local authorities.”