Dr Michael Mosley: Foul play ruled out in TV doctor’s death – as CCTV footage appears to capture moment he fell
Foul play has been ruled out in the death of Michael Mosley – as CCTV footage appears to show him falling over close to where his body was found.
WARNING: This article contains descriptions of Dr Michael Mosley’s last moments which some readers might find distressing
There were no injuries on the TV doctor’s body that could have caused his death, according to Greek police sources.
CCTV footage appeared to show him falling over close to where his body was found in Agia Marina on the island of Symi – and clearly shows that no one was with him.
His time of death was around 4pm on Wednesday, a few hours after he went missing and very soon after he fell.
The cause of death can only be determined once the toxicology report is back.
Footage found by a beach bar at Agia Marina shows what appears to be the 67-year-old making his way down a rocky slope close to a fence before he falls out of view.
Agia Marina bar manager Ilias Tsavaris, 38, told Sky News correspondent Sadiya Chowdhury in Symi the CCTV shows Mosley walking along the perimeter.
“Over there in the mountains, like 30m from the place where we found him, he started crawling a little. And then the distance of 30m, which a normal person could do in two minutes or five minutes, took him half an hour or more,” he said.
“So he’s still crawling over and then he fell, passed out exactly in the place where we found him.”
Dr Michael Mosley. Pic: SYSPEO/SIPA/Shutterstock
A rocky path in the hills of Pedi. Pic: PA
His widow Dr Clare Bailey Mosley said he “very nearly made it” to safety.
She said Mosley – who went missing on Wednesday after leaving his wife and friends at Agios Nikolaos beach to walk back to their hotel – appeared to have undertaken an “incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen” by search and rescue teams.
Tributes have poured in for the doctor who made popular the 5:2 diet and championed public health.
Mosley first trained as a doctor in London before moving into the world of media, becoming a presenter, documentary maker, author and columnist.
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Who was Michael Mosley?
His body was discovered by a cameraman on Sunday morning after a widespread search by emergency services operating in dangerous conditions and high temperatures.
He had been missing for four days and police said they believed he had walked north from Pedi marina in the direction of Agia beach.
His wife raised the alarm after he failed to return.
His four children also arrived on the island to help search for their father as the focus shifted to a snake-infested mountainous area after CCTV footage on Saturday emerged of his then last known movements.
It showed him on Wednesday making his way through the small fishing village of Pedi heading up into the remote rocky terrain.
This image of Mosley was shared in a local Facebook group appeal
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CCTV of Mosley on day he went missing
Mr Tsavaris was the person sent to check if what local cameraman Antonios saw was indeed the doctor’s body.
He told Chowdhury: “Without saying anything I went outside the fence and as soon as I turned my head on the left, I saw something. I went up close, really close to the man. I saw the body.
“You don’t see these kinds of things every day, especially on a small island and a small place like this. So it was not the best feeling.”
He said he has not been able to eat since yesterday, adding his thoughts are with Dr Mosley’s children who he said had followed their father’s perceived footsteps two days earlier and searched just metres away from where his body was eventually found.
“The whole family came here still searching. They had some water to get some rest. And then they continued searching, walking. But they took the path back on the opposite side.”
He told of how close Dr Mosley’s children had come to finding their father.
“If they walked for five minutes, probably,” he said.
“I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or a good thing, because I cannot imagine his family that’s here to see what I saw. And believe me, what I saw, it’s… I cannot describe. It was not a good thing to see.”
A coastguard boat took the body to Rhodes for a post-mortem
Pic: Reuters
Mosley’s body was found about 50m from the closest jetty and the resort’s northern sunbeds – and taken to Rhodes by the Greek coastguard for a post-mortem and formal identification.
The coroner’s office in Rhodes confirmed to Chowdhury an autopsy has been completed.
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Mosley’s body found metres from safety
Who was Michael Mosley?
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The news has sparked an outpouring of grief from his loved ones and fans, with friends and colleagues praising him for innovating the world of science and health broadcasting.
Chris van Tulleken, Mosley’s co-presenter on BBC series Trust Me, I’m A Doctor, said broadcasting can be “very competitive and a bit cut-throat” but Mosley “created this generous idea that we were all in this together and so he was endlessly helpful off screen as well”.
He added: “There’s so much of his content I just consumed as a normal consumer. I enjoyed it, it entertained me while I was listening, and then it quietly changed my daily practices. So my own personal medical routine every day is very, very based on the work of Michael Mosley over the last 10-15 years.”
Downing Street said Mosley was an “extraordinary broadcaster” who had a “huge impact” on people’s lives.
The Syrian presidency has announced it’s assembling a special taskforce to try to stop nearly a week of sectarian clashes in the southern Druze city of Sweida.
The presidency called for restraint on all sides and said it is making strenuous efforts to “stop the fighting and curb the violations that threaten the security of the citizens and the safety of society”.
By early Saturday morning, a ceasefire had been confirmed by the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, who posted on X that Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a ceasefire supported by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The post went on to state that this agreement had the support of “Turkey, Jordan and its neighbours” and called upon the Druze, Bedouins, and Sunni factions to put down their arms.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford reports from the road leading to Sweida, the city that has become the epicentre of Syria’s sectarian violence.
For the past 24 hours, we’ve watched as Syria‘s multiple Arab tribes began mobilising in the Sweida province to help defend their Bedouin brethren.
Thousands travelled from multiple different Syrian areas and had reached the edge of Sweida city by Friday nightfall after a day of almost non-stop violent clashes and killings.
“We have come to protect the [Arab] Bedouin women and children who are being terrorised by the Druze,” they told us.
Arab fighters said they had come to protect the Bedouin women and children
Fighters at a petrol station
Every shop and every home in the streets leading up to Sweida city has been burned or ransacked, the contents destroyed or looted.
We saw tribal fighters loading the back of pickup trucks and driving away from the city with vehicles packed with looted goods from Druze homes.
Shops and homes leading up to Sweida city have been burned or ransacked
Several videos posted online showed violence against the Druze, including one where tribal fighters force three men to throw themselves off a high-rise balcony and are seen being shot as they do so.
Doctors at the nearby community hospital in Buser al Harir said there had been a constant stream of casualties being brought in. As we watched, another dead fighter was carried out of an ambulance.
The medics estimated there had been more than 600 dead in their area alone. “The youngest child who was killed was a one-and-a-half-year-old baby,” one doctor told us.
Doctors said there had been a constant stream of casualties due to violence
The violence is the most dangerous outbreak of sectarian clashes since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime last December – and the most serious challenge for the new leader to navigate.
The newly brokered deal is aimed at ending the sectarian killings and restoring some sort of stability in a country which is emerging from more than a decade of civil war.
Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.
Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.
As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.
The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.
The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.
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Why is Israel bombing Syria?
After Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking Syrian Druze, Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa told the minority group in a televised statement on Thursday that “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.
It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.
It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.
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At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.
A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.
The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.
The training centre in east LA. Pic: NBC Los Angeles
Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.
“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”
California congressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.
“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.
Media and law enforcement officials near the explosion site. Pic: AP
The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.
“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.
“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
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