Body of missing Brit found in Italy after he vanished on New Year's Day

The body of a Brit who vanished on New Year's Day during a hiking trip with his friend has been found.

Aziz Ziriat, 36, went missing alongside his friend Samuel Harris, 35, in the Italian Dolomites at the start of the year. A huge search was launched after the pair were had not been heard from since New Year's Day. His body was located this morning and the Trentino Alpine and Speleological Rescue team are now working to recover his remains.

The friends were known to have been near the town Tione Di Trento, near Riva Del Garda, on Lake Garda, before they went missing. The alarm was raised after the men stopped responding to messages and failed to get on their flight back to the UK on January 6.

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Samuel was unfortunately found dead back in January, after his body had been buried under metres of deep . The search for the pair was complicated by poor conditions and heavy snow at high altitudes.

Search teams found items belonging to Aziz, like his mobile phone and a card, not far from his friends body, in January. Despite this, the dozens of rescuers involved in the search were were not able to find the 36-year-old at the time.

Rescuers hoped the snow melting in the spring and summer would help restart the search for Aziz, who was from London. The operation to recover his body is being coordinated by the Italian Guardia di Finanza and is ongoing.

The friends had travelled to The Dolomites to hike between huts in the mountain range for a New Year's trip abroad. Aziz's girlfriend, after the initial search for the friends started, called the pair "experienced hikers" but revealed she had last spoken to her boyfriend around 10am on New Year's Day.

Rebecca Dimmock also shared her boyfriend's last messages to her before the pair were not heard from again. In January, she said: "He sent some photos of the mountains and a couple of himself. He said his phone was about to die but he would write back to me properly soon."

She also revealed more details about the friends' hiking plans. Rebecca added: "I know they made it to the hut, and they were drinking red wine, but he said it was freezing."

A video, at the time, showed Aziz preparing to hike the mountain range on New Year's Day with Samuel. He filmed the mountain range he planned to scale and a shelter it was believed the pair stayed overnight.

Aziz had worked for Crystal Palace at the club's official Palace For Life charity. The club put out a post to appeal for information when he initially went missing.