Michael Mosley: Body found in search for missing TV doctor

A body has been found in the search for TV and radio presenter Michael Mosley, according to rescue workers. It has not yet been confirmed it is Mosley.

Dr Mosley, 67, was last seen leaving Saint Nikolas beach at 1.30pm when he is believed to have been heading off on the coastal path back to nearby Pedi.

Firefighters have been probing a cave network, which lies off a picturesque beach, known by local residents as “the abyss”.

The search operation for missing TV and radio presenter Michael Mosley is continuing for a fifth day on the Greek island of Symi.

The 67-year-old vanished after setting off on a walk on Wednesday.

Searches for the presenter have focused on a rocky area north of the village of Pedi where he was last spotted.

On Saturday, his wife Dr Clare Bailey Mosley said “we will not lose hope”

Dr Mosley was last seen on CCTV cameras heading towards Symi from the nearby bay of Pedi, where he left his wife on the beach and planned to walk back to the house of friends with whom they were staying, it is believed.

Lucy Holden reports from Symi, Greece:

The mayor of Symi has vowed to continue the extensive search operation – which has involved police, firefighters with drones, Greek Red Cross workers, divers, a search dog and a helicopter operating in dangerous conditions and high temperatures – until Dr Michael Mosley is found.

Eleftherios Papakaloudoukas said the area where Mosley is believed to have travelled through is “difficult to pass” and is “only rocks”, as well as being populated by “loads” of snakes.

Speaking through a translator, the mayor of 22 years questioned how anyone could survive in the heat that topped 40C on the day Mosley disappeared.

Mr Papakaloudoukas said he hoped Mosley would be found “safe and alive”, adding: “All the community is so sad about this, (it has) never happened before.”

Dr Michael Mosley’s family have been urged not to give up their search for the missing TV presenter by the son of a man who similarly disappeared on a Greek island five years ago in a “cut and paste” case.

The 67-year-old health and wellness expert has been missing since Wednesday after taking a coastal walk in searing heat on the Dodecanese island of Symi, in a case that has baffled local residents and has sparked a major search operation.

The case bears eerie similarities to that of John Tossell, a 78-year-old man from Bridgend, south Wales, who went missing on the Greek island of Zakynthos five years ago this month.

“A lot of” island residents had joined the search using their own boats to find British national Michael Mosley, said the mayor’s daughter.

On Friday, Mika Papakalodouka, 20, told the PA news agency: “It is a small island, people talk. We’re good people actually here. Everybody is looking for him.

“It’s such a small island to get lost on. It’s so weird for us. Everybody is worried and looking for him.”

Firefighters started scouring a 6.5km (four-mile) radius over a mountainous area that is surrounded by sea on at 6am on Saturday.

The team of emergency workers were forced to split up to cover the vast expanses of steep rocky terrain on their own, as well as using a drone to search the area.

One uniformed worker said there were 10 of them searching multiple summits because it was too dangerous for large crews to work during the summer months.

Firefighter Stergos Giakoumakis said from near one of the peaks: “It’s not so easy to bring here 100 people, especially this period, because it’s the most dangerous period.

“Everything is dry and it is too dangerous for firemen to search.”

Firefighters were seen using umbrellas to protect themselves as there is no shade or path near the top of the hill that sits between Pedi bay and Agia Marina, where they suspect Mosley may have walked.

Dead grass juts out between rocks and large boulders, and the only living vegetation is a few small shrubs.

An emergency helicopter was seen flying over Pedi bay towards the mountainous terrain where the hunt for Mosley was being carried out around 3.20pm local time.

CCTV images appear to show missing TV doctor Michael Mosley less than half an hour after he left a beach to go on a walk while on a holiday on the Greek island of Symi.

The pictures suggest he walked to the village of Pedi after leaving the beach where he had been with his wife in sweltering temperatures.

A search operation continued on Saturday, involving divers and drones, but authorities are investigating whether he might have left the island altogether.

Lucy Holden reports from Symi, Greece: