Breaking: Body found in search for missing mountain hikers – alpine rescue
The two British men who had been on a hiking adventure in the Dolomite mountains in Italy and have been missing for nearly a week attended Teddington School, it emerged today.
Aziz Ziriat, 36, and his friend Samuel Harris, 35, were hiking in the mountains in north eastern Italy on January 1, but they have not been seen or heard from since and missed their flight back to the UK on Monday.
An urgent appeal to find the friends has been launched by family and friends. Both sent home messages from the Trentino region until midday on January 1, but they failed to board their return flight from Verona.
Their last known location is believed to be near a hut called Casina Dosson which is near the town Tione Di Trento, near Riva del Garda, on Lake Garda.
Crystal Palace FC also asked for help to locate their employee and shared a map with routes the two hikers could have taken.
“We are appealing for anyone familiar with the area, who can provide assistance or information, to get in touch,” the club said in a statement today.
The club further posted descriptions of the Aziz and Sam, including a picture of the clothes Sam is believed to have been wearing.
Both men attended Teddington School in Broom Road and it is understood Sam attended Collis School, also in Teddington.
Aziz, who is described as being 6’3, was a student at the University of Brighton, while Sam, who is 5’11, went to Oxford Brookes.
Crystal Palace has asked fans to share pictures and information of the two missing Britons on social media.
Mustafa Suleyman, the chief executive of Microsoft’s AI division, also posted an appeal to find the two friends on LinkedIn: ‘I urgently need your help! Two of my friends have gone missing whilst hiking in the Dolomites.
“We know they were near Casina Dosson Tione Di Trento, near Riva del Garda, on Lake Garda.”
Friends of the pairs and Aziz’s girlfriend Rebecca Dimmock have flown to the region from London tonight to help with the search.
Alpine Rescue, Guardia di Finanza Rescue, Carabinieri and the local fire brigade are involved in the search for Aziz and Sam but recent snowfall was making it difficult for teams to reach the area.
The search was due to resume with helicopters and drones early today.
Local authorities reportedly said that it was unusual for hikers to go missing in the Dolomites in January.
If anyone has any information or knows the area and can help, please dial 999 and reference CAD 0197/07 Jan25.