by CCTV images of TV doctor and columnist Michael Mosley walking on the Greek island of Symi after he went missing two days ago have been released as the search continues.
The images were taken about 20 minutes after he left St Nikolas beach to walk along a path towards the nearby village of Pedi, and show Mosley, shielding himself from the fierce sun in a shade.
Taken outside a restaurant in Pedi, they provide the first concrete proof that the TV presenter had made it to the resort.
A senior police officer co-ordinating the operation said: “The image is now one of many we now have of the Briton in Pedi. There are others that clearly show him heading towards a path that would lead him to the port town. They will help us narrow our search but in no way solve this mystery.
“We now know he went to the other side of the path,” the official noted, adding: “But in some ways the mystery only deepens. Now we have to ask where he went from there and if he took another unexpected route [to the port town] did he slip and fall? We are still no closer to this solution.”
Mosley arrived on the island on Tuesday with his wife, Clare Bailey Mosley, who is also a doctor, author and health columnist. According to reports, he and his wife, and the couple they were staying with, visited St Nikolas beach, and Mosley decided to walk from the beach at around 1.30pm Greek time on Wednesday.
It is not clear whether he planned to take the bus or the boat from Pedi to the picturesque port town of Symi, close to the house where the couple were staying with British friends who live part of the year on the island and where Mosley left his mobile phone.
Local police confirmed officers were scouring the island after calling off the search and rescue operation for the 67-year-old Briton on Thursday night.
The operation was expanded on Friday with divers, coast guard patrol boats and a sniffer dog specially trained to find people brought in from Athens.
Police and firefighters are using drones to try to find Mosley, who was reported missing on Wednesday. A helicopter was deployed on Thursday to assist in the search.
A senior security official said: “The involvement of the dog is a decisive turn in the operation on the ground. Every time he goes is an hour lost. It is vital that we do everything we can to find him.”
More officers joined the rescue operation on Symi, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain about 25 miles (40km) north of Rhodes.
Local people, a helicopter from Rhodes and Greek officials, as well as police drafted in from outside the island, were searching the Pedi area and its surroundings on Friday, the mayor’s office said.
The rescue operation was previously focused on the rocky coastal path between the beach and Pedi until the CCTV footage was obtained.
His three grown-up sons and daughter have flown to the island to join the search, Mosley’s brother Arthur told the Telegraph. He said: “We are shocked and bewildered by what has happened to him.”
The area where Mosley went missing is experiencing hot weather, forecast to reach 36C on Friday, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service. A yellow weather warning for high temperatures is also in place in Rhodes and surrounding islands, including Symi.
The rescue operation, which until Friday focused on the area between Ayiis Nikolaos bay and Pedi, was slated to move to the terrain between the resort and the main town of Symi Gialos – a terrain known to be rocky and in parts treacherous
The mayor of Symi, Eleftherios Papakalodoukas, said: “I think it is important that we now focus on the sea.
“Symi is small, very small. It is difficult for a man to disappear in such a limited space. There is another possibility that he left the island but the possibilities of that happening are high [boat] a ticket has been found in his name.”
The Guardian was told that a team of police investigators who arrived on the island on Friday would not only take witness statements but also examine “every CCTV camera” on the island. “It will take time,” said the security official. “We’re talking about hundreds of hours of footage.”
“It’s like the world opened up and swallowed him,” said the deputy mayor of Symi, Nikitas Gryllis, to Mega TV. “Throughout the whole island this unrest is felt.”
Greek rescue officials have no plans to stop the search. It will, they say, go on as long as it takes. “I have been involved in police work for more than 30 years and, yes, I am surprised that we are still looking for him but a man cannot disappear from the air,” said the security officer. “With the help of the dog it will soon be very clear whether we should still be looking at the ground, looking at Symi, or looking elsewhere for this man whose disappearance is a mystery.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man missing in Greece who are in contact with the local authorities.”
Mosley is a columnist for the Daily Mail and has made several films about diet and exercise. The broadcaster addressed Channel 4 show Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat? and was part of the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.
