Dr Michael Mosley missing after disappearing on holiday walk

Prominent BBC health expert Michael Mosley is missing on holiday. The 67-year-old nutritional and healthy living guru is understood to have gone for a walk yesterday and not returned.

He is said to be on holiday on the island of Symi, Greece and was on a walk from St Nicholas when he went missing. A search and rescue team is said to be coming from Athens with drones and other more sophisticated equipment to extend the search today (Thursday).

His wife, Dr Clare Bailey, 62, raised the alarm after he failed to return by 7.30pm and local authorities began tracing the route overnight but were unable to locate him.

Resident Adriana Shum wrote on the Friends of Symi Facebook page: “Have you seen this man? He set off to walk back from St Nick’s at about 13.30 and failed to make it home. His friends are concerned as it is 6 hours since they last saw him.

"His name is Dr Mike Mosley and he is a familiar face for many British people as he has appeared on the BBC. Edit: The police and coast guard have been informed. E.D.O.K, the island’s rescue team, is also involved. Edit 9.30 Thursday morning. So far he still has not been found and the search continues.”

Other commenters said his wife Claire and a friend had retraced the walk but had been unable to find anything. Dr Mosley is famed for his versions of the Fast 800 and 5:2 eating plans.

The Daily Mail, for which he is a columnist reported Police in Athens headquarters said were ‘actively pursuing the case.’ Senior Police Spokesman Constantina Dimoglidou said ongoing searches that began early this morning.

He told the Mail: "He was at the beach of Ag. Nikolas with another couple when he decided to go back to his home in the area of Pedi of Symi. It was around 1.30pm and he forgot his phone at the beach. Any and every attempt to track him down has not produced any result. We have now asked the fire brigade to assist in the operation in the case that he may have slipped, tripped, fallen, even bitten by a snake, remaining injured somewhere.’

"There is just no trace of him. None whatsoever and that means that for us at least, every potential scenario is open and being investigated."

Dr Mosley is the author of the international bestselling books The Fast 800, The Clever Guts Diet, The Fast Diet, Fast Exercise, Just One Thing and The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet.

He presents a regular Radio show and Podcast for the BBC called Just One Thing and lives in Buckinghamshire with wife Claire. Michael studied PPE at Oxford and then became an investment banker and in his website’s biography says he realised it wasn’t the industry for him. He retrained as a doctor, studying medicine at the Royal Free Hospital in London and qualifying as a doctor and then decided he wanted to change that as well.

He transformed his life when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. At a time when Dr Mosley was overweight, he had early signs of fatty liver disease. But once he radicalised his diet, he managed to reverse it, along with his type 2 diabetes. He said: “Eleven years ago, when I discovered that I had type 2 diabetes, I also had a scan that revealed I had early signs of fatty liver disease. Both the diabetes and the fatty liver went away once I went on the 5:2 diet and lost 9kg. “

Michael joined the BBC as a trainee assistant producer and over the ensuing 25 years has made numerous science and history documentaries for the BBC, first behind the camera and more recently as a presenter. He was executive producer of QED, Trust Me I’m a Doctor and Superhuman. He has worked with John Cleese, Jeremy Clarkson, Professor Robert Winston, Sir David Attenborough and Professor Alice Roberts. He devised and executive-produced three of the most popular science and history programmes of the last decade: Pompeii- the last day, Supervolcano and Krakatoa. He has also made a number of business programmes, including, Trouble at the Top and Back to the Floor.

As a presenter he has made a dozen series for the BBC, including Medical Mavericks, Blood and Guts, Inside Michael Mosley, Science Story, The Young Ones, Inside the Human Body, Eat, Fast Live Longer, The Truth about Exercise, Pain, Pus & Poison and The Genius of Invention. He recently appeared on Michael Mosley: Secrets of Your Big Shop on Channel 4 and was filming a TV version of his Just One Thing Radio 4 show.

He has won awards, including being named Medical Journalist of the Year by the British Medical Association in 1995. He is married to a Claire who is also a doctor and has four children.