A search is under way for a pair of British hikers in the Dolomites in northern Italy who have been missing since New Year’s Day.
Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, last sent messages home on 1 January from the Trentino region. They have not been heard from since. The pair, who are both from London, did not check in to their flight home on 6 January.
On Tuesday, Crystal Palace’s official charity, Palace for Life, where Ziriat worked, appealed for anyone who knew the area they went missing in and could help to call 999 with the reference: CAD 0197/07 Jan25.
According to the BBC, Alpine Rescue, Guardia di Finanza Rescue, police and the local fire brigade are all involved in the search but, owing to recent snowfall, they are having difficulty reaching the area.
Palace for Life said the pair’s 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. They shared a picture of Harris wearing a grey T-shirt and black trousers, with a red jacket tied around his waist, saying this may have been the last outfit he wore before going missing.
Rebecca Dimmock, Ziriat’s girlfriend, told the BBC the pair were “experienced hikers” who were “planning on going off-grid”.
“They 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.
“But they also wanted to get into the huts and have fires and drink red wine because it was new year’s, which they did do, because he did message me at one point and he was carrying a log up the mountain to one of the huts.”
Dimmock added: “I know they made it to the hut, and they were drinking red wine, but he said it was freezing.”
She said she last spoke to Ziriat at about 10am UK time on New Year’s Day.
“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 said a few hours later, her messages were not being received by Ziriat’s phone.
“His phone had obviously died at that point, or he was out of range,” she said.
Friends of the pair are flying out to the region from London this evening to help with the search.