Body found in search for two Brit hikers who vanished on Italian mountain before pair failed to make their flight home
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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.
![[Aziz Ziriat went missing in Italy]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/missing-persons-aziz-ziriat-member-962175889_3a59e1.jpg?strip=all&w=703)
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.
![[Sam Harris, 35, has been missing since New Year's Day]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/search-rescue-operation-way-dolomites-962195002.jpg?strip=all&w=614)
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. This teams first worrying update, earlier on Wednesday, was their discovery of the men's backpacks and equipment in a hut they were believed to have stayed in.
![[Rescue crews found the body of a British hiker buried in the snow of the Italian alps]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/rescue-crews-found-body-british-962366324.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Rescue crews revealed they followed Aziz and Sam's last phone recordings to track a body. They confirmed a search for the second mountaineer 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.
