Michael Mosley’s wife says ‘we will not lose hope’ as new CCTV footage emerges

Athens: The wife of missing British TV doctor Michael Mosley said her family “will not lose hope” as the search on a Greek island for her husband continued for a third day.

“It has been three days since Michael left the beach to go for a walk,” Dr Claire Bailey Mosley said in a statement to the Daily Mail, where her husband is a columnist.

“The longest and most unbearable days for myself and my children.”

She said her family were “incredibly grateful” for the search efforts and thanked locals for their support.

“We will not lose hope.”

The couple’s four adult children arrived on the small island of Symi on Friday night.

The emotional statement came as new CCTV footage emerged on Saturday that appeared to show Mosley leaving the Greek village of Pedi and heading towards a treacherous, rocky and hilly area.

As a result of the new video, rescue workers shifted their focus on Saturday to the mountainous area between Pedi and the beach of Agia Marina.

The London Telegraph reported the path was a longer three-hour route back to where he was staying in the town of Symi. It said rescue workers had previously been searching the more direct road route between the two villages.

One searcher told the Telegraph: “The path is not easy to follow, if he took a wrong turn, he would be lost. He could be anywhere; it is a race against time.”

Symi’s mayor, Eleftherios Papakalodoukas, told The Sun the area was hilly, rocky and treacherous, and offered no shade from the 40-degree-Celsius temperatures.

The TV presenter and healthy living advocate, who has endorsed fasting and offered tips on sleep and diet, was last seen at 1.30pm on Wednesday.

He disappeared after he set out on a stroll in searing temperatures along a rocky coastal path from Agios Nikolaos beach to the village of Pedi. Mosley did not have his mobile phone with him, hampering tracing efforts.

British TV presenter Michael Mosley was still missing on the mountainous Greek island of Symi as of Saturday.Credit: AP

Police, the fire brigade, the coast guard and volunteers have been searching on and off the island in the eastern Aegean assisted by a helicopter, drones and rescue dogs.

“The search continues,” spokeswoman Constantina Dimoglidou told Reuters. “We are investigating on foot another rocky part, the wider area of Agia Marina.”

Divers were also involved in the operation and vessels sailing nearby were on alert.

Papakalodoukas said the images and video footage from security cameras had helped sketch out what authorities believed was Mosley’s possible route, which he described as “unconventional”.

They indicated that he may have continued further through Pedi into another challenging area around Agia Marina, the mayor said.

“He chose paths which are very difficult to walk in such temperatures and under any circumstances,” Papakalodoukas said. “Cameras show that he did not take the expected way back home.”

Symi, part of the Dodecanese island chain, is about 16 kilometres long and has 2500 residents. Its remote beaches were filled with sunbathers on Friday.

Mosley has appeared on programs including the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, the BBC’s The One Show, and ITV’s This Morning.

Reuters