Michael Mosley: Greek police search for missing TV doctor
June 7, 2024
Greek authorities broadened their search for missing British doctor and TV presenter Michael Mosley on Friday.
Mosley, who is well-known in the UK and beyond for his books on dieting, reportedly went missing on Wednesday while going for a walk on the Greek island of Symi.
On the second day of the search, around 20 firefighters and police officers searched on land while coast guard units scoured the waters around the island.
"There is a big effort underway to find him," Symi police chief Petros Vassilakis told the AFP news agency on Friday.
What do we know about Michael Mosley's disappearance?
Mosley was last seen on Wednesday afternoon heading out for a walk between Agios Nikolaos beach and the village of Pedi, police said.
His wife Clare Bailey alerted authorities on Thursday morning after he failed to return from his walk.
There are concerns that Mosley may have sustained heat exhaustion, with temperatures on Symi reaching 39.3 degrees Celsius (103 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.
After first searching on land with the help of volunteers, sniffer dogs and a drone, authorities expanded the search to include the sea.
"Probably he fell into the sea and washed away, or something else has happened," Symi Mayor Lefteris Papakalodoukas told Reuters on Friday.
"It's impossible to be where the searches are taking place. It is a small area and has been thoroughly searched."
Friends and colleagues express concern
Mosley attracted international attention after he popularized intermittent fasting through his "5:2 diet."
He also published dieting books, had regular appearances on British TV and wrote a column in the Daily Mail.
The 67-year-old doctor often pushed his body to extreme lengths to test different theories. For the BBC documentary "Infested! Living With Parasites," he lived with tapeworms in his guts for six weeks.
After his disappearance was announced on Thursday, worried friends and colleagues expressed their concern.
"This shocking news focuses our minds on Michael's wife Clare and their sons," said Roy Taylor, a professor of medicine and metabolism at Newcastle University who co-authored "The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet" with Mosley.
"Our thoughts are with them in this terrible time of uncertainty, hoping that he will be found safely."
zc/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)