Tragic details have continued to emerge about Dr Michael Mosley’s final hours after he disappeared on the Greek island of Symi, with his body discovered five days later.
After police officers, firefighters and a helicopter scoured the rocky hillside, he was found at the foot of a fence near a beach bar at the Agia Marina resort.
CCTV footage has reportedly shown him making his way down the slope before falling over, with his wife saying that his family had taken comfort in the fact he “very nearly made it to safety”.
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After recently taking part in a theatre tour with his wife Dr Clare Bailey, the two had flown to the tranquil Dodecanese island to stay at the three-bedroom Merchant House apartment in Symi with friends.
The TV star, who had regularly appeared on This Morning and The One Show, had enjoyed a boat ride on Wednesday before leaving his wife and family friends at the nearby Agios Nikolaos beach at around 1.30pm.
Carrying a small bottle of water and an umbrella, he set out without his mobile phone to return to the couple’s accommodation and had planned to walk along the coastal route.
In 37C searing heat, he managed to climb the steep slope and was seen on a cafe’s CCTV at 1.52pm in the town of Pedi. It is believed he took a wrong turn and rather than making the walk inland to Symi, he ventured eastwards and is suspected to have become disorientated.
Greek authorities shifted their focus on Saturday after CCTV footage from a house at the edge of a small marina in Pedi showed the presenter walking towards a mountainous path at about 2pm local time on Wednesday.
His widow said the 67-year-old appeared to have undertaken an “incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen” by emergency search teams.
Despite searches being conducted in the area, it was five days later that a Greek cameraman and the local mayor spotted a suspicious shape at the edge of the resort, and alerted the bar staff.
His body was discovered around mid-morning on Sunday beneath a fence, which is surrounded by hilly, rocky terrain.
Police arrived at Agia Marina around 20 minutes after the body was discovered about 90 metres from the coastline, with firefighters later arriving just after 2pm local time to take the body away from the island on a boat.
On Saturday, an emergency services helicopter spent hours flying across the mountainous search site on Symi between Pedi bay and Agia Marina, and hovered over the spot where the body was later found.
Agia Marina bar manager Ilias Tsavaris, 38, first saw the body alongside journalists after the island’s mayor “saw something” by the fence of the bar and alerted staff.
The search effort had been widespread, operating in dangerous conditions and high temperatures, and included police, firefighters with drones, Greek Red Cross workers, divers, a search dog and a helicopter.
An initial examination by a coroner has ruled out foul play but further tests are due to be carried out on the father-of-four in Rhodes to confirm a cause of death, the Daily Mail has reported.
The news has sparked an outpouring of grief from his loved ones and fans of his science programmes and films, with friends and colleagues praising him for innovating the world of science and health broadcasting.
