A search was launched for TV doctor Michael Mosley after his wife, Dr Clare Bailey, raised the alarm when he failed to return home on the small Greek island of Symi. Photo / Greg Bowker
A search was launched for TV doctor Michael Mosley after his wife, Dr Clare Bailey, raised the alarm when he failed to return home on the small Greek island of Symi. Photo / Greg Bowker
TV doctor Michael Mosley, known for popularising intermittent fasting, is missing after a walk in Greece.
Greek authorities have launched a search with drones, fearing he might be injured or snake-bitten.
Temperatures hit 36C on the day he disappeared, complicating search efforts.
As the search for missing television doctor Michael Mosley enters its third day, a local official claims the diet guru may have been seen after he was reported missing, but searchers have warned it was “impossible” he was still in the small search area.
Mosley, a doctor and television presenter who helped popularise intermittent fasting, went missing after going on a coastal walk while holidaying on a Greek island.
A search operation was launched after his wife, Dr Clare Bailey, raised the alarm when he failed to return home on the small island of Symi, near Rhodes, on Wednesday night.
Rescuers with a drone were scrambled from Athens to join the search.
Greek police fear the 67-year-old may have been injured in a fall or bitten by a snake as he returned towards the tiny hamlet of Pedi from St Nicholas beach, a popular spot on the island.
Symi Mayor Eleftherios Papakalodoukas has said some people claim to have seen Mosley in Pedi after his walk, reports the Daily Mirror.
He told Greek news outlet Live News: “The whole island is in turmoil. The volunteers of the island and the services are out looking to find him. The information we have says that he returned from the beach of Agios Nikolaos [St Nicholas], walked the footpath which is 10-15 minutes and arrived at Pedi, which is a residential area.”
Mosley had been on St Nicholas beach with another couple but had left his phone there before he set off for Pedi, a tiny hamlet a mile away where he had been staying with his wife, about 1.30pm.
Constantina Dimoglidou, a senior police spokesman, earlier said: “Any and every attempt to track him down has not produced any result. We have now asked the fire brigade to assist in the operation in the case that he may have slipped, tripped, fallen, even [been] bitten by a snake, remaining injured somewhere.
“There is just no trace of him – none whatsoever, and that means that, for us at least, every potential scenario is open and being investigated.”
Four police officers, eight firefighters with a drone and eight volunteers are participating in the search.
Papakalodoukas told the BBC that searchers told him they believed it was “impossible” Mosley was still in the search area.
“It is a very small, controlled area, full of people. So if something happened to him there, we would have found him by now,” he said.
Papakalodoukas said he believed it was likely Mosley either “followed another path” or had fallen into the sea.
Police have also requested the deployment of a police dog and a helicopter from the civil protection authorities.
The area where the presenter went missing is considered “difficult as it is quite rocky”, Papakalodoukas told Kathimerini, the Greek daily newspaper.
Papakalodoukas described the heat on the island on Wednesday as “unbearable” and said “one could easily faint in such conditions”.
The Hellenic National Meteorological Service issued an excessive heat warning on the day Mosley went missing, with temperatures reaching 36C.
Papakalodoukas said Mosley “wanted to walk back from the beach, but that’s a distance of about an hour and a half and there are shortcuts he may have taken”.
Adriana Shum, a British expat and local journalist who has lived on the island for 30 years, said on Thursday morning: “A search and rescue team is coming from Athens with drones and other more sophisticated equipment to extend the search.”
She shared a recent photo of Mosley on the island to the Facebook group Friends of Symi, writing: “Have you seen this man. He set off to walk back from St Nick’s at about 13.30 and failed to make it home.
“His friends are concerned as it is six hours since they last saw him. His name is Dr Mike Mosley and he is a familiar face for many British people as he has appeared on the BBC.
“The police and coastguard have been informed. EDOK, the island’s rescue team, is also involved. So far, he still has not been found and the search continues.”
Another expat wrote on the Facebook page: “Be assured that Symi is a very resourceful island. The authorities and volunteers are doing everything possible to find this man. You will be notified just as soon as there is news.
“And as an aside, it really is of no consequence as to how famous or successful this chap is, or that he is a celebrity. The efforts to find him are exactly the same as for anyone else here on Symi.”
The picture of Dr Michael Mosley posted on Facebook with an appeal for information after he went missing while walking on holiday in Greece.
Colleagues and friends of Mosley expressed messages of support for his family.
Television presenter Jeremy Vine, who has featured Mosley on his BBC Radio 2 programme, said: “I’m praying this lovely man is found and thinking of Clare and the whole Mosley family.”
Tom Watson, the former deputy Labour leader who credited his own 50kg weight loss to Mosley’s advice on fasting, said: “My thoughts are with the family of Michael Mosley who has gone missing.
“He is a hero to me, and I hope he is found safe.”
Martin Lewis, the financial journalist and broadcaster, tweeted that he was “disturbed” to hear the father of four is missing.
