The charity that one of the British hikers missing in northern Italy worked for has said it is “aware of reports the body of Sam Harris has been recovered”.
The Crystal Palace Football Club charity, Palace for Life, said it was “devastated to receive this news” and its “thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his loved ones”.
They said no further information was available on the whereabouts of his friend Aziz Ziriat.
Mr Harris, 35, was hiking in the Dolomites with Mr Ziriat, 36, but the pair had not been heard from since 1 January.
Both of the men, who are from London, did not check in for their flight home on Monday.
Their last known location was near a mountain hut called Casina Dosson, close to the town of Tione Di Trento, near Riva Del Garda, on Lake Garda.
Italy’s CNSAS (The National Alpine Cliff And Cave Rescue Corps) said ground teams found Mr Harris’s body “beneath the snow, at the base of a rock face, at the foot of the southern wall of Care Alto”.
Rescue teams had been searching the area after tracking a “phone of one of the two mountaineers”, a spokesperson for the organisation said.
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The spokesperson added that while the investigation into his death is ongoing, “it is possible that the climber fell from above”.
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Searches for Mr Ziriat were suspended this afternoon due to worsening weather conditions, but would resume, the organisation said, adding that the families of both men had been informed.
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Joe Stone, a university friend of Mr Ziriat, previously told the PA news agency that the pair were “experienced hikers” who liked to go off the grid, but “alarm bells were raised” when they failed to check in for their return flight.
Before the body was found, he said friends and family were “waiting anxiously” for news in the search and that “the next few hours (would) be crucial”.
