Missing Michael Mosley’s shocked children join desperate search for dad in Greece after mystery of haunting CCTV pic
MISSING Michael Mosley’s four children have flown to the Greek island where he was on holiday to join the search for their dad.
Alexander, Jack, Daniel and Katherine, who are all adults, were yesterday scouring the route on Symi where he was known to have walked after leaving his wife on the beach.
It comes as new CCTV pictures emerged which show Dr Mosley in the town of Pedi, shielding himself from the sun with an umbrella.
Further images not shared with the media are said to show him later walking up a treacherous mountainous path from the town at about 2pm.
The path is a three-hour route back to Symi Town, where he was staying with his wife Dr Clare Bailey, 62, and a another couple who they are friends with.
It was previously hoped he took a shorter route after leaving his wife and the couple at Saint Nikolas beach, where they had earlier arrived by boat.
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He said he was feeling ill and would walk back.
Dr Mosley’s brother, Arthur, yesterday said: “We are very shocked and perplexed by what has happened. His children have now all gone to Greece and are walking the path trying to find him.
“We know as much as what the police and the media has reported, and hope there’s a good outcome.
“Unfortunately, when you get to Michael’s age, accidents like this can happen.”
He said his brother had been in “good spirits” before the trip to the island of Symi.
Last night, Greek police called off their water search and said they will now focus on the terrain between two key towns.
The island’s mayor, Papakalodoukas Lefterios, said search and rescue teams were looking at a one-and-a-half mile stretch of land between the town of Pedi and Gialos, which is part of Symi Town, where the couple were staying.
He said: “They have not yet found anything. It is a mystery, this disappearance.
“The police of Symi, the Coast Guard and forces from Athens, including police and criminal investigators, are working non-stop and will be working non-stop till they find any clue. I very much doubt there is a criminal aspect in this case, at least as far the local community is concerned. I very much doubt any of the inhabitants of the island acted in that way.”
He added: “I do believe however, the elderly man walking on his own without a phone in an unknown island and 35C of heat could lead to many conclusions.
“He could have had unknown health issues triggered by the heat and he could’ve wondered through unknown paths and had an accident. Had he followed the right path I believe that everything would have been okay.”
Greek authorities initially focused their search on the sea, with divers called in.
Officials had said it is possible Dr Mosley had fainted in the heat and fallen “from a height.”
Theories he was bitten by a snake or had become disoriented were also being examined.
But CCTV images show him walking past a cafe having left the coastal path — 22 minutes after leaving his wife at a beach.
Last night, a Greek police source said the CCTV image was “one of many” investigators have of the doctor in the village of Pedi.
Others are understood to show him heading towards an inland path that links Pedi to Symi Town, which would have meant the TV star would not have walked along the rugged coastal route.
'Feeling unwell'
The source said: “The inland area has been scoured by helicopter but has not been searched thoroughly. He could be found inland.”
Search and rescue teams were yesterday re-tracing Dr Mosley’s steps, as a sniffer dog arrived on the island — which is 25 miles north of Rhodes — on a ferry from Greek capital, Athens.
Sources said the specially-trained animal would soon quickly establish if the doctor was on land.
Other sources said the TV doctor — who has diabetes and has spoken of his struggles with insomnia — could have taken a bus back or carried on walking along another coastal path.
A woman has reported seeing him near a bus stop in the Pedi area on Wednesday.
There were also reports he was spotted talking to someone.
This Morning and The One Show star Dr Mosley vanished after leaving St Nikolaos beach to walk to Symi Town, where the couple were staying with British friends.
Yesterday, Greek journalist Ioanna Niaoti said: “It is understood that at about 1.30 local time he said he was not feeling very well and wanted to return home. He went to a coastal path leading to the village of Pedi. And this was the last time someone saw him, in Pedi.
“He stated this to the company he was with on the beach — to his wife and the couple they were staying with — that he was not feeling well and wanted to return home.
“So he left on his own and he didn’t have his mobile, which was left at their place. When his wife then realised he was not at home, she reported this to the police.”
Greek authorities have also said there was no sign Dr Mosley had tried to leave the island, which has a population of just 2,500.
Police and firefighters have been using drones and helicopters to try to locate him, with locals joining the search on land and at sea.
All speed and success to those searching for this dear man
Professor Roy Taylor
A team of investigators have travelled to Symi from Rhodes and have been taking statements.
The Greek meteorological service issued an excessive heat warning on Wednesday, the day Dr Mosley went missing in 38C (100F) heat.
Yesterday, temperatures had risen further and were nudging 40C.
The climb to the path he used involves walking up 100 steps to a height of 50m.
The walk back to where they were staying would have taken less than an hour.
Dr Mosley’s wife, Clare, raised the alarm at 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Officials launched an appeal for information at 11am on Thursday as help was drafted in from bigger islands and the mainland.
The search — centred on the island’s northern coastline — was paused as darkness fell on Thursday before resuming yesterday.
Dr Mosley has a newspaper column and has made films about diet and exercise.
He fronted the Channel 4 show Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat?, and took part in BBC series Trust Me, I’m A Doctor.
He also lived with tapeworms in his gut for six weeks for the documentary Infested! Living With Parasites, on BBC Four.
I literally feel sick with worry
Saleyha Ahsan
His famous 5:2 Diet — which limits calories on two days of the week — and The Fast 800 diet, have highlighted the virtues of fasting.
Dr Mosley previously told how he suffered an episode of transient global amnesia, which saw him lose his memory after a cold water swim.
In a 2019 newspaper column, he revealed how he ended up in A&E after the dip off the coast of Cornwall with wife Clare.
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He told how it “all went blank” as he swam back to shore.
The next thing he remembered is waking up in hospital in Truro.
