Items belonging to a British hiker who has been missing in the Dolomites since New Year’s Day have been found as the search for him continues.
Sam Harris, 35, and Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, last sent messages home on 1 January and the pair did not check in for their flight home on 6 January. Friends and relatives have travelled to Italy.
The body of Harris was found on Wednesday buried in deep snow at the foot of a cliff about 2,600 metres (8,500ft) above sea level in the area of the Conca pass in the Adamello nature park.
On Sunday, Italy’s national Alpine cliff and cave rescue corps (CNSAS) said at 5.45pm local time that the search for Ziriat had been stood down for the day. A spokesperson said some items belonging to Ziriat had been found on Saturday.
Harris’s best friend and business partner paid tribute to him in a post on Instagram. Spencer Jones said: “To say I am devastated would be an understatement, and I have no words to fully describe how I am feeling at the moment. The search is ongoing for our good friend Aziz Ziriat, so for now, I want to focus on Sam.
“He was an amazing friend of 23 years, ever since our school days. He was probably the most knowledgeable person I have ever known, and building the business with him has been an incredible journey.”
On Sunday, more than 100 rescuers continued their hunt for Ziriat, who works for the Crystal Palace FC charity Palace for Life. Crews were searching the snow in an area of about 5,500 sq metres, CNSAS said, with the help of a dog unit.
They have been searching the area after tracking the mobile phones of the two mountaineers to where their backpacks were found on Wednesday, but have found no trace of Ziriat.
The search was stood down for the day after 3pm on Sunday as it began to get dark. Joe Stone, a university friend of Ziriat, previously told the PA Media news agency that authorities were “trying everything” to find the 36-year-old.
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“There is an acceptance among us that it’s not going to be good news,” Stone said on Saturday. “But it would be really nice to find him and be put out of this limbo.”
