Missing British Hiker's Body Found in Italy After Vanishing With Friend on New Year's Day

The remains of a missing British hiker, who vanished along with his companion on New Year's Day, have been discovered. Italy .

Aziz Ziriat from London, aged 36, along with Samuel Harris, who was 35 years old, went missing during their hike in the Dolomites, leading to an extensive search effort.

Mr. Ziriat's body was found this morning, and the Trentino Alpine and Speleological Rescue team are currently engaged in recovering his remains.

According to the mountain rescue team, his relatives have been notified.

Mr Harris was discovered deceased barely more than seven days since he had disappeared, his body buried beneath thick layers of snow.

A mobile phone, card, and spectacles belonging to Mr Ziriat were found near Harris’ remains, yet he himself was nowhere to be seen at that time.

In a farewell video to their friends prior to disappearing, the duo had outlined their plans to climb a 3,000-meter-high mountain on January 1st.

However, their loved ones grew worried when the pair of adventurers failed to catch their return flights to Britain on January 6th. They promptly informed Italian officials, prompting an immediate search effort. This operation has faced challenges due to severe snowfall and powerful gusts.

The last known location of Mr Ziriat, who worked for Crystal Palace's Palace for Life foundation, and Mr Harris was close to a hut called Casina Dosson, which is near the town of Tione Di Trento, near Riva del Garda, on Lake Garda.

Helicopter rescuers sadly verified Mr Harris's body was discovered buried beneath the snow at approximately 2,600 meters above sea level on January 8.

The Italian Alpine rescue team reported that ground crews discovered his body at the foot of the Care Alto peak, implying he might have tumbled from stones situated higher up.

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

Following the discovery of Mr Harris's body at 1pm, rescuers and sniffer dogs continued searching for his hiking partner until 1.30pm, when the hunt was called off due to worsening wind and fog.

An investigation is under way into the circumstances of the incident, a spokesperson said at the time.

Earlier that day, rescuers said the men's backpacks and equipment were found during a search of a bivouac hut they are believed to have taken refuge in.

The discovery of Mr Harris's body came just hours after Mr Ziriat's girlfriend, Bex Dimmock, said their disappearance 'just doesn't make sense'.

In tears on "Good Morning Britain," Ms. Dimmock shared her emotions saying, "The numerous possible outcomes and situations are overwhelming; that’s what makes this most difficult. Nothing seems logical, and their choices remain unclear."

She stated: "They are truly seasoned professionals; they've faced extremely tough environments."

'This journey, their scheme was to move from one hut to another, and provided the weather cooperated, they intended to camp outdoors.'

They had nicely mapped out their journey ending at Lake Garda, with some downtime to explore the town before heading home.

During a different conversation with the BBC, Ms Dimmock stated: "Their plan was to undertake a New Year's trek. They aimed to move from one mountain hut to another across the Dolomites."

'It was expected since they intended to live off the grid.'

'I think they wanted to have some nights where they were out in nature and in fresh air and sleeping in the wild. They have all the gear and they've done hikes before.

'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.'

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

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

She said a few hours later, her messages were not being received by Mr Ziriat's phone.

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

Frantic friends of the vanished duo also disclosed the instant when their GPS tracker ceased functioning.

Joseph Sheppard, a friend of Mr Ziriat, told The Times: '[Ziriat and Harris] were at a specific rifugio [shelter] and they looked like they were going to [try] and make it to the next refugio, which was on the other side of a mountain. So they had to go up one and down again.

Their location tracker followed them from the rifugio as they ascended the mountain; it seems they reached nearly to the summit before the signal stopped completely.

Read more