By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS/SYMI, Greece (Reuters) -British TV presenter Michael Mosley has been found dead in a rocky area of Symi, days after he disappeared during a walk on the Greek island, local officials and police told Reuters.
The 67-year-old healthy living advocate, who was had been a prominent face on British TV for two decades, was found on Sunday morning, ending a four day search that included aircraft, drones and sniffer dogs.
“It’s devastating to have lost Michael, my wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband. We had an incredibly lucky life together. We loved each other very much,” Mosley’s wife said in a statement issued on her behalf.
Police spokeswoman Constantina Dimoglidou said the body of a person believed to be Mosley had been found in the area of Agia Marina, north of the village of Pedi and opposite the northeast beach of Agios Nikolaos where Mosley set out for his walk.
“It is certainly him,” said deputy mayor Nikitas Grillis, pending formal identification of the body, which was found on rocky terrain, close to the sea and near a beach bar.
The body was transferred to the neighbouring Dodecanese island of Rhodes for more tests, after a police official said a coroner at the scene excluded any criminal act but could not determine the exact cause of death.
Symi Mayor Lefteris Papakalodoukas said the discovery was made after he and others, including journalists from state TV channel ERT, filmed the area from a vessel.
“We analysed the recorded evidence and it was obvious that it was, unfortunately, Mosley,” Papakalodoukas said.
“He was found 10 metres away from the sea, 10-15 metres from his destination, the beach of Agia Marina, between a fence and a path,” adding that it was unclear what had happened.
ERT reported that Mosley was found lying face up, with his head on a rock.
Mosley, who was on holiday with his wife, was last seen alive at 1:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) on Wednesday. His children had arrived on Friday on Symi, which is about 10 miles (16 km) long and has 2,500 residents, following his disappearance.
Mosley appeared on programmes including the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, the BBC’s The One Show and ITV’s This Morning.
“Absolutely devastating news,” said celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on Instagram. “He did such a lot of good for public health with his TV shows and research.”
(Additional reporting by Yannis Souliotis, Angeliki Koutantou and Michael Holden; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Elaine Hardcastle and Alexander Smith)
