Bad weather hampers search for missing British hiker

A search and rescue operation for a second British man who went missing whilst hiking in the Dolomite Mountains has been temporarily suspended due to bad weather.

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, from London, have not been heard from since 1 January. The alarm was raised after the pair failed to check into their flight home on 6 January.

On Wednesday, rescue teams announced they had found a body "unfortunately lifeless, buried under the snow", believed to be that of Mr Harris.

Rescue attempts in recent days have been hampered by heavy snowfall.

In a statement on Thursday, Italian rescue services said: "Due to bad weather, with rain in the valley bottom and snowfall in the mountains, today the search for the second mountaineer missing from the Adamello group was temporarily suspended".

Rescue teams have cleared the road leading to the top of Val di Borzago from snow, in efforts to speed up searches by helicopter on Friday, the statement added.

More than 50 personnel from Alpine Rescue, Guardia di Finanza Rescue, Carabinieri and the local fire brigade are all involved in the search.

They added that search efforts are expected to resume on Friday.

Authorities say they would also be checking the huts along the bottom of the valley in Val di Borzago and Val San Valentin.

The discovery of a body, believed to be that of Mr Harris, was discovered by rescuers on Wednesday afternoon at the foot of a rock face on Carè Alto mountain near Trento.

The discovery was made in a high-altitude area where a phone signal was last recorded from one of the men.

The exact cause of death is still unclear.

The rescue team added it had been forced to abandon a search for Mr Ziriat, which had been using dog units specialised in avalanche searches, due to weather conditions.

Search and rescue efforts are continuing for the other missing man but have been hampered by bad weather

Speaking on Tuesday, Rebecca Dimmock, Mr Ziriat's girlfriend, told the BBC the two friends had wanted to do a New Year's hike.

"They wanted to go from hut to hut throughout the Dolomites"

"They were planning on going off-grid, so that's not unexpected at all.

"I think they wanted to have some nights where they were out in nature and in fresh air and sleeping in the wild. They have all the gear and they've done hikes before."

She added she had last spoke to Mr Ziriat at around 10:00 on New Year's Day. However, a few hours later noticed her messages were not being received.

"His phone had obviously died at that point, or he was out of range," she said.

Authorities have said the families of Mr Ziriat and Mr Harris', who have come to Italy, were being supported by psychologists.