While the search continues, CCTV footage of television doctor and columnist Michael Mosley, who disappeared two days ago, while walking on the Greek island of Symi, has emerged.
The footage was taken about 20 minutes after he left St Nikolas beach to walk along the road towards the nearby village of Pedi, and showed Mosley shielding himself under an umbrella against the fierce sun.
Footage taken outside a restaurant in Pedi provides the first concrete evidence that the TV presenter has reached the premises.
A senior police officer co-ordinating the operation said: “This image is one of many we now have of the Briton in Pedi. There is other footage that clearly shows him heading towards a route that will take him to the port city. “They will help us narrow down our search but will in no way solve this mystery. They can’t figure it out.
“We now know he moved to the other side of the road,” the officer said. “But in some ways the mystery has gotten deeper. Now we need to ask where he went from there and whether he took another unexpected route.” [to the port town] Did it slip and fall? “We’re still no closer to solving this.”
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, his wife and the couple they were staying with visited St Nikolas beach and Mosley decided to walk from the beach around 13.30 Greek time on Wednesday.
It is unclear whether Pedi plans to take a bus or boat to the picturesque port town of Symi, where the couple stays for part of the year with British friends who live on the island and is near the house where Mosley left his mobile phone.
Local police confirmed officers had begun combing the island after pausing a 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 search dog specially trained to find people brought from Athens.
Police and fire crews are using drones to locate Mosley, who was reported missing Wednesday. A helicopter was deployed on Thursday to assist in the search.
A senior security official said: “The dog’s involvement marks a decisive turn in the operation on the ground. Every hour that passes is an hour lost. “It’s vital that we do everything we can to find him.”
More police joined the rescue operation in Symi, part of the Dodecanese Island chain about 25 miles (40 km) north of Rhodes.
In the statement made by the mayor’s office, it was stated that local people, the Rhodes helicopter and Greek police officers, as well as police sent from outside the island, investigated the Pedi region and its surroundings on Friday.
The rescue effort had earlier concentrated on the rocky coastal road between the beach and Pedi until CCTV footage was obtained.
Mosley’s brother Arthur told The Telegraph that his three adult sons and daughter had flown to the island to join the search. He said: “We are so shocked and shocked by what happened to him.”
According to the Greek National Meteorological Service, the area where Mosley disappeared is experiencing hot weather and the temperature is expected to reach 36 degrees on Friday. A yellow weather warning for high temperatures is also in effect on the surrounding islands, including Rhodes and Symi.
The rescue operation, which until Friday had focused on the area between Ayios Nikolaos Bay and Pedi, was planned to move into the rocky and dangerous terrain between the resort and Symi’s main town, Gialos.
Mayor of Symi, Eleftherios Papakalodoukas, said: “I think it is important that we now focus on the sea.
“Simi is small, very small. It is difficult for a man to disappear in such a limited area. There is another scenario that he left the island, but the chances of that happening are not that great. [boat] A ticket was found in his name.”
The Guardian was told that a team of police investigators arriving on the island on Friday will not only take witness statements but examine “every CCTV camera” on the island. “This will take some time,” the security guard said. “We’re talking hundreds of hours of footage.”
“It was as if the ground opened up and swallowed him,” Nikitas Gryllis, deputy mayor of Symi, told Mega TV. “There’s a sense of turmoil throughout the island.”
Greek rescue authorities have no plans to stop the search. They say it will continue as long as this continues. “I’ve been involved in police work for over 30 years, and yes, I’m surprised we’re still looking for him, but a man can’t just disappear,” the security official said. “With the help of the dog, it will soon become clear whether we should still be looking for this man, whose disappearance has become a great mystery, on land, in Symi or somewhere else.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Greece and is in contact with local authorities.”
Mosley is a columnist for the Daily Mail and has made numerous films about diet and exercise. Broadcaster, Channel 4’s Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat? He previewed the program called. and was part of the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.