A BODY has been found in the search for a North-East man missing in a ravine in the Slovenian Alps, police have confirmed.

A statement from Slovenian police said the body of Jack Daykin, who is from Darlington, but has links to the Bishop Auckland area, was discovered at 1.28pm on Tuesday.

Dozens of officers and search specialists had been looking for him after he disappeared five days earlier.

The 23-year-old was travelling in the northwest of the country with friends when he vanished last Thursday.

Some of Mr Daykin’s close family, including his parents, have travelled out to Slovenia.

Police said the identity of the body had been confirmed by family members. 

The search operation between the mountain town of Bovec, in the Julian Alps, and Nova Gorica, on the Italian border, was launched immediately after the alarm was raised, just after 7pm on Thursday.

The Northern Echo:

Lowering search and rescue personnel into the Koritnica River gorge

According to the Nova Gorica police, Mr Daykin dropped his mobile phone into the ravine while visiting Kluze fort, an ancient military check point positioned high above the Koritnica River.

After realising that he would not be able to reach the bottom of the gorge from the fort, he and a friend headed for the village of Log pod Mangartom.

While his friend waited anxiously on a bridge downstream, Mr Daykin went to look for his phone.

Police described the terrain as steep and dangerous and said the river water level was high due to heavy rain in recent weeks.