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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.
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Updates and tributes after body found
Who was Michael Mosley?
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 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.
A view of the area where the body of Michael Mosley was found Pic: Reuters
The area 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.”
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 carried out an initial report on-site before the body was removed via boat. A post-mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of death.
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Body found at ‘inaccessible’ location
Emergency services lifting an empty stretcher off a boat. Pic: Yui Mok/PA
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 at 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 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last few days – would have made the journey much 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 earlier this week to assist in the search for their father.
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The local cameraman who spotted Michael Mosley’s body
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 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.
Dr Michael Mosley with wife Clare. Pic: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
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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 rocky hills behind the marina.
Tributes 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.”
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”.
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Dr Phil Hammond says that Dr Michael Mosley ‘will be enormously missed’
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.”
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 7-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”.
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