Michael Mosley: Body found in search for TV doctor on Greek island of Symi
A body has been found in the search for TV doctor Michael Mosley, who went missing on a Greek island.
The body was found close to a cave complex beside Agia Marina on Symi, around 10 metres from the sea, and did not appear to show any signs of injury, the mayor of Symi Lefteris Papakalodoukas told Sky News.
Mr Papakalodoukas said he had been in a boat on the way to search in a cave with members of the media when they saw something on the rocks above the beach.
He says they filmed as they went, then used a mobile phone to zoom in on the image, and could see it was a body lying on the rocky slope.
Separately, the mayor said that the body appeared to have fallen down a steep slope, stopping against a fence and lying face-up with a few rocks on top of it.
The body had a leather bag in one hand, according to a cameraman with state TV ERT who was on the boat with the mayor.
An umbrella is also understood to have been found alongside the body.
The area had been searched on foot and from above via helicopter on Saturday, according to local bar manager Ilias Tsavaris, who was among the first people to find the body.
A police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation, said that formal identification was pending.
A coroner from the larger island of Rhodes will carry out an initial report on-site before the body is removed, and a post-mortem will then take place to determine the cause of death.
The body was found on the opposite side from the Saint Nicholas beach where Mosley had left his wife and friends to go for a walk on Wednesday.
While a hike from the point Mosley was last sighted to the beach where the body was found would normally have taken around half an hour on foot, the extremely hot weather – reaching levels of over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last few days – would have made the journey more arduous.
Mosley’s wife, Dr Bailey Mosley, and the couple’s four children will lay flowers at the place the body was found on Monday.
Earlier this week she had described the days since her husband’s disappearance as “the longest and most unbearable“.
Mosley’s three sons, Alex, Dan and Jack, and daughter Kate had travelled to the Greek island on Sunday to assist in the search for their father.
The alert had first been raised when the 67-year-old doctor failed to arrive back at their friends’ home in Symi Town, with an appeal and photo shared in a local Facebook group.
The presenter had reportedly set off on a walk from Saint Nikolas Beach at about 1.30pm local time.
Mosley was then captured on several CCTV cameras walking through the town of Pedi, around 1.2km away, and then near a yacht club in Marina Symi, further round the island. This was the last known sighting of him.
He did not have his mobile phone with him.
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The doctor’s agent confirmed he was missing to the PA news agency on Thursday.
Rescue teams had been working on the assumption he may have mistakenly headed towards the hills behind the marina.
Michael Mosley's career
Mosley was known for appearing on television programmes like This Morning and The One Show.
He was one of the presenters of the series Trust Me, I’m A Doctor on the BBC – and also hosted its Just One Thing health podcast.
He also lived with tapeworms in his gut for six weeks for the documentary Infested! Living With Parasites on BBC Four.
Mosley was also credited for the rising popularity of the 5:2 diet for losing weight, which involves fasting for two days per week.
He was a columnist for the Daily Mail and has made a number of films about diet and exercise.
More recently, he presented two series for Channel 4, Secrets Of Your Big Shop and Who Made Britain Fat?
His programmes have received nominations for RTS and Emmy awards, and he has previously been named “medical journalist of the year” by the British Medical Association.
Tributes were quick to pour in from fellow celebrities, including Jamie Oliver, Dr Phil Hammond, Professor Alice Roberts and Saleyha Ahsan.
Mosley’s former Trust Me I’m A Doctor co-presenter Saleyha Ahsan told Sky News Mosley was a “national treasure” who would always take time to talk to people off-stage.
She said he truly “cared about the health of the nation”, adding: “Michael’s advice, the 5:2 diet, that has really changed the approach of so many people about their health. He lived and breathed his work. He was an inspiration. I hate even saying ‘was’ – is an inspiration.”
Another of Mosley’s Trust Me, I’m A Doctor co-presenters, Dr Phil Hammond, said Mosley was always up for trying things out himself, and was fearless in his mission to improve people’s health.
Dr Hammond told Sky News: “One of the big [things] he’ll be remembered for is not just his popularising an explanation of science, but the fact that he would experiment himself… [Mosley] was a person prepared to put his body on the line to test out science, and I can’t quite believe he’s gone”.
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TV chef Oliver said he was “devastated” by the news, calling Mosley “a wonderfully sweet, kind and gentle man” who did “such a lot of good for public health with his TV shows and research”.
He called the TV doctor “a curious investigator, producer and presenter” who he said “changed the conversation around many public health issues for the better.” Oliver added, “He will be sadly missed.”
Professor Roberts, who had known Mosley for many years, and said she had seen him at the Hay Festival just two weeks ago, wrote on X: “The fragility of life is so shocking… I can’t believe he’s gone”.
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