A close friend of a British mountaineer who has been missing for 10 days in the Italian Dolomites mountain range has “accepted it’s not going to be good news” as the search for him continues.
Aziz Zarit, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, from London, have not been heard since January 1. Alarms were raised when the couple failed to check into their flight home on January 6.
On Wednesday, rescue teams announced they had found a body “unfortunately lifeless, buried under the snow” in the Paso de Conca area, believed to be that of Mr Harris.
At first light on Saturday, more than 80 personnel from Alpine Rescue, Guardia di Finanza Rescue, the Carabinieri and the local fire brigade resumed the search.
In a statement, Alpine Rescue said about 40 rescuers had been sent to high altitude to search the same area where Mr Harris’ body was found.
Joe Stone, a university friend of Mr Zarit’s, said authorities were “trying everything” to find him.
“There is an acceptance among us that this is not going to be good news,” Mr Stone said on Saturday.
“But it would be really nice to find it and put it out of limbo.”
The last known location of the couple was a mountain hut called Cassina Dossin, near the city of Tione di Trento, on the Riva del Garda on Lake Garda.
In a statement on Friday, the Italian rescue services said the search for the body believed to be that of Mr Harris had not led to the discovery of Mr Zariat.
Dense fog forced the search operation to be called off on Friday afternoon.
Mr Harris was found under snow at the foot of a cliff on the Carri Alto mountain near Trento on Wednesday.
The cause of his death is unclear but a possible cause given by authorities was a fall “from above”.