Bad weather hampers search for missing British hiker

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.