CCTV images of the 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 for him continues.
The images were taken about 20 minutes after he had left St Nikolas beach to walk along a path towards the nearby village of Pedi, and show Mosley, shielding himself against the fierce sun under an umbrella.
They were taken outside a restaurant in Pedi, and provide the first concrete proof that the TV presenter had made it to the resort.
A senior police officer coordinating the operation said: “The image is now one of many that we now have of the Briton in Pedi. There are others that show him clearly heading towards a path that would lead him to the port town. They will help us narrow our search but in no way do they solve this mystery.
“We now know that he made it to the other side of the path,” the officer noted, adding: “But in some ways the mystery has only deepened. Now we have to ask where did he go from there and if he took another unexpected route [to the port town] did he slip and fall? We’re still no nearer to solving this.”
Mosley had 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, with Mosley deciding to walk from the beach at about 1.30pm Greek time on Wednesday.
It is unclear whether he planned to take the bus or boat from Pedi to Symi’s picturesque port town, close to the house where the couple were staying with British friends who live part of the year on the isle and where Mosley had left his mobile phone.
Local police confirmed that officers were scouring the island after they paused the search and rescue operation for the 67-year-old Briton on Thursday night.
The operation was expanded on Friday with divers, coastguard patrol boats and a sniffer dog specially trained in finding people being brought in from Athens.
Police and firefighters have been using drones to try to locate Mosley, who was reported to have vanished on Wednesday. A helicopter was deployed on Thursday to assist the search.
A top security official said: “The dog’s participation marks a decisive turn in the operation on land. Every hour that passes is a lost hour. It is vital that we do everything we can to find him.”
More officers have 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 officers, along with police drafted in from outside the island, were searching the Pedi area and its surroundings on Friday, the mayor’s office said.
Michael Mosley. The rescue operation is focusing on the Pedi area of the island
The rescue operation had previously been focused on the rocky coastal path between the beach and Pedi until the CCTV footage was obtained.
His three adult sons and his daughter have flown to the island to join the search, Mosley’s brother Arthur told The Telegraph. He said: “We are very shocked and perplexed 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 force in Rhodes and surrounding islands, including Symi.
The rescue operation, which until Friday had focused on the area between the Ayiis Nikolaos bay and Pedi, was slated to switch to terrain between the resort and Symi’s main town of Gialos - terrain known to be rocky and in parts treacherous.
The mayor of Symi, Eleftherios Papakalodoukas, said: “I think it’s important that we now focus on the sea.
“Symi is small, very small. It’s difficult for a man to disappear in such a limited space. There is another scenario that he left the island but the possibilities of that having happened are not big as no [boat] 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 examine “every CCTV camera” on the island. “It’s going to take time,” said the security officer. “We’re talking about hundreds of hours of footage.”
“It’s as if the earth opened up and swallowed him,” Symi’s deputy mayor, Nikitas Gryllis, told Mega TV. “Across the whole island there’s this feeling of upheaval.”
Greek rescue officials have no plans to stop the search. It will, they say, go on for as long as it takes. “I’ve been involved in police work for over 30 years and, yes, I’m surprised that we’re still looking for him but a man can’t just vanish in thin air,” said the security official. “With the help of the dog it will soon become very clear whether we should still be looking on land, looking on Symi, or looking elsewhere for this man whose disappearance has become such a mystery.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Mosley is a columnist for the Daily Mail and has made a number of films about diet and exercise. The broadcaster fronted the Channel 4 show Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat? and was part of the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.