A BODY has been discovered in the desperate search for two British men who went missing on a New Year’s Day mountain hike.
Fears grew after friends Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, failed to board their flight home after their holiday in the Italian Dolomites.
Rescue crews uncovered a body buried in the snow of the mountains, Italians authorities revealed on Thursday.
The heartbreaking discovery was made on Wednesday morning after a helicopter search was resumed.
The pair were last heard from on 1 January when their phones either died or lost signal after sending messages and photos home.
A desperate hunt for the friends, from London, was ignited after the pair did not get on their flight home on January 6.
The first two days of the frantic search were hampered by heavy snowfall, fog, and avalanche warnings.
The rescue team’s first update, earlier on Wednesday, was their discovery of the men’s backpacks and equipment in a hut they were believed to have stayed in.
This came after a video taken on 1 January showed the pals planned to leave their packs behind before moving onto the next valley.
Rescue crews revealed they followed Aziz and Sam’s last phone recordings to track a body.
They confirmed the search would continue and that the families of both men had been informed.
Their last known location was near a mountain hut called Casina Dosson, close to the town of Tione Di Trento, near Riva Del Garda, on Lake Garda.
The friends’ family members revealed Aziz and Sam were planning to go between huts in the mountain range on their New Year’s hike.
Rebecca Dimmock, the girlfriend of Aziz, called the pair “experienced hikers” but revealed she last spoke to her boyfriend around 10am on New Year’s Day, according to BBC reports.
She said: “He said his phone was about to die but he would write back to me properly soon.”
Rebecca added: “I know they made it to the hut, and they were drinking red wine, but he said it was freezing.”
Breaking down into tears this morning on Good Morning Britain, Rebecca shared the anguish their loved ones were experiencing.
She said: “There’s just 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.”
Rebecca added: “They are really experienced, they have been to some really harsh conditions.”
Family and friends of the pair flew out to the Italian region last night to help rescue efforts.
Crystal Palace FC appealed for information yesterday to help find the duo as Aziz works for the club’s official Palace For Life charity.
A desperate post from Palace on X said: “A member of the Palace For Life staff and his friend have been missing since 1st January in the Dolomites.
“If anyone knows the area, is able to support further or has any information that will help, please call 999 and reference CAD 0197/07 Jan25.”
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