A search is currently underway for TV doctor and newspaper columnist Michael Mosley, who vanished during a coastal walk on the Greek island of Symi.
Mosley, 67, recognised for his roles on The One Show and This Morning, was last seen hiking from St Nicholas beach at 1:30 pm local time on Wednesday. His wife, Dr. Clare Bailey, notified authorities when he did not return by 7:30 pm, but efforts to find him overnight were unsuccessful.
A post in a local Facebook group has appealed to the island’s 2,500 residents for any information regarding Mosley’s whereabouts.
The post reads: “A search and rescue team is coming from Athens with drones and other sophisticated equipment to aid the search.
“Have you seen this man? He set off to walk back from St Nick’s at about 1:30 pm and hasn’t made it home. His friends are worried as it has been 6 hours since they last saw him. His name is Dr. Mike Mosley and he is well-known to many British people.”
Greek police informed The Guardian that a helicopter and specially trained dogs were set to join the extensive search effort on the remote Aegean island.
“We have every available service looking for him,” said a police chief overseeing the operation, who requested anonymity. “He was officially reported missing this morning, and now police, firemen, and volunteers are involved in the search.”
A drone is also being deployed, and the Hellenic coastguard has been tasked with patrolling the island’s rugged coastline.
“We are considering the possibility that he might have been affected by the heat, or perhaps slipped and fallen from a height. Nothing is being ruled out at this stage,” the police chief said.
A senior security official described the search for the Briton as increasingly resembling “a thriller.” Mosley was staying with friends on the island “where distances are short,” yet there have been no sightings of him.
“It’s baffling, it makes no sense,” he said. “How can someone just disappear in broad daylight? If something had happened to him, we would have found him on or near the path he was walking back to the port. Yet, all these hours later, there’s nothing.”
Rumors of a sighting near a bus stop in the resort of Pedi were dismissed after checking CCTV footage, another police officer reported.
The search is expected to expand further on Friday with additional police squads and fire brigade-trained dogs arriving from Rhodes.
Mosley, a columnist for the Daily Mail, has produced several documentaries on diet and exercise, including the Channel 4 show Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat? and the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.
For the BBC Four documentary Infested! Living With Parasites, he lived with tapeworms in his guts for six weeks. Mosley is also known for popularizing the 5:2 diet, which involves fasting two days a week for weight loss. He has been named “medical journalist of the year” by the British Medical Association.
Source: The Guardian
