The body of TV doctor Michael Mosley has been found four days after he went missing on a Greek island.
His body was found close to a cave complex beside Agia Marina on Symi, around 10m 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.
The mayor said 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 Antonis Mystiloglou, a cameraman with state TV ERT who was on the boat with the mayor.
An umbrella is also understood to have been found close to the body.
Image: A view of the area where the body of Michael Mosley was found. Pic: Reuters
Mosley’s wife, Dr Clare Bailey Mosley, who is a GP and cookery writer, said the loss of her “wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband” was “devastating”, but said the family was “taking comfort in the fact that he so very nearly made it”.
She said in a statement: “He did an incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen by the extensive search team.”
She called their life together “incredibly lucky”, saying they had been “so happy together” and adding that she was “incredibly proud” of their four children together, praising their “resilience and support over the past days”.
Image: Dr Michael Mosley with wife Clare. Pic: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
The area in which the body was found had been searched on foot by firefighters and from above via helicopter on Saturday, according to local bar manager Agia Marina, who was one of the first people to find the body.
Mr Marina went to investigate the area by the fence after something unusual was spotted in the images taken from the boat. He said: “They called me, they said, ‘You know what we saw something from far away, can you go and check’, so I went there.
“So when I walked up I saw something like a body to make sure. You don’t see a dead body everyday, it is not a warzone, it’s summer you are supposed to have fun and swimming.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:13
The local cameraman who spotted Michael Mosley’s body
Image: Emergency services lifting an empty stretcher off a boat. Pic: Yui Mok/PA
A police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation, said that formal identification was pending.
A coroner has now examined the body, and it has been removed from the island via boat. A post-mortem will be carried out 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.
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, but the extremely hot weather – reaching levels of over 40C (104F) in the last few days – would have made the journey much more arduous.
Dr Bailey Mosley and the couple’s four children will lay flowers where the body was found on Monday.
Mosley’s three sons, Alex, Dan and Jack, and daughter Kate had travelled to the Greek island earlier this week 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, asking: “Have you seen this man?”
The presenter had reportedly set off on a walk from Saint Nicholas Beach at about 1.30pm local time.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
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.
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 rocky 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 have since poured 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.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:21
Dr Phil Hammond says that Dr Michael Mosley ‘will be enormously missed’
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… He was a person prepared to put his body on the line to test out science, and I can’t quite believe he’s gone.”
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 concluded: “He will be sadly missed.”
X
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
Tom Watson, the former deputy leader of the Labour Party, called Mosley as a “hero”. The politician, who credited Mosley’s book The Fast Diet with playing a part in his seven-stone weight loss, wrote on X: “It’s hard to describe how upset I am by this news.
“Through courageous, science-based journalism, Michael Mosley has helped thousands of people get well and healthy. I’m one of them.”
Author, TV writer and former doctor Adam Kay said it was “desperately sad”, adding: “May his memory be a blessing.”
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.”
Born in 1957 in Calcutta, India, Mosley studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford before working as an investment banker, before throwing it in to retrain as a doctor. It was while studying as a medical student he met his wife Clare.
Image: Mosley pictured at fast food restaurant as part of promo for a Channel 4 series. Pic: PA
Named medical journalist of the year in 1995, he fronted numerous programmes on the BBC, as well as appearing as a guest on ITV’s This Morning and making several shows for Channel 4.
Perhaps best remembered for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet (a form of intermittent fasting he credited with reversing his own type 2 diabetes), he published numerous books and had recently completed a run of theatre tours around the UK.
A familiar voice to many Radio 4 listeners, he will also be fondly remembered for his Just One Thing podcast, sharing relatable tips to help improve your health, one small step at a time.
Former Match of the Day presenter and Liverpool icon Alan Hansen is currently in hospital, the club have announced.Hansen is regarded as one of Liverpool's greatest ever players having won eight league titles and three European Cups.He cost Liverpool £100,000 back in 1977 and sits 10th on the club's all-time appearance list having played 620 times for the Anfield outfit.Hansen retired from football in 1991 and rejected going into management […]
Post comments (0)