Body of French hiker missing in Italy found in ravine

The body of a French hiker, Simon Gautier, who went missing in Italy, south of Naples, has been found at the bottom of a ravine. The young man had been missing since 9 August.

27-year-old, Simon Gautier was found dead at the bottom of a ravine in southern Naples, Italy. Heloise GREGOIRE / AFP

The 27-year-old's body was located in the ravine near Belvedere di Ciolandre after a rescuer with binoculars spotted a backpack late on Sunday.

Teams of firefighters and alpine rescuers along with a helicopter and drones searched the area of mountains and cliffs bordering the sea.

Gautier had been living in Rome for two years working on a thesis on art history.

He set out to hike alone from Policastro Bussentino to Naples and had sent his family a picture of his backpack.

On Sunday evening a vigil was held in the village of Scario, the closest to the search area, where an open-air mass had been held in the afternoon for the rescue teams and the young man.

Gautier was last heard from on 9 August, when he called emergency services on his mobile phone to say that he had fallen off a cliff and broken both his legs.

He was unable to give a precise location and lack of reliable data from his phone call meant that the search area extended over some 140 square kilometres, including across into Calabria.