Helicopter deployed to search for missing doctor Michael Mosley as witness reports sighting

A helicopter has been sent to search for missing TV doctor Michael Mosley after he went missing while on holiday in Greece. A major search and rescue operation is underway on the Greek island of Symi.

Police and firefighters are using drones to contain the island, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain and lies about 25 miles north of Rhodes. Mosley, known for his appearances on The One Show and This Morning and for presenting a series of documentaries, is believed to have disappeared after going for a walk in the center of the island on Wednesday.

A helicopter was also deployed to assist in the search at around 19:00 local time (17:00 BST) on Thursday, the PA news agency said. The rescue operation is said to be focusing on the Pedi area of ​​the island after a woman reported seeing him there on Wednesday.

A local police statement, which was translated, said officers were alerted to the “disappearance of the 67-year-old British national on the island” on Wednesday.

Police then called for assistance from the Greek fire service, with six firefighters, a vehicle and a drone team arriving from Rhodes at around 14:00 (12:00 BST) on Thursday.

Symi Mayor Eleftherios Papakalodoukas said firefighters told him they thought it was “impossible” that Mr Mosley was still there. He told the BBC: “It’s a very small, controlled area full of people. So if something happened to him there, we would have found him by now.”

A woman who gave her name only as Irini and works at the Kamares cafe on Pedi Beach, told the PA news agency: “They came, the police, the coast guard and the fire brigade, and the rescue team, to investigate , but I don’t think anything has been found yet.”

Another woman in the area said Mosley’s disappearance was “strange” as the path he was believed to be on was “clear”. She said: “It’s a quiet place… if you look at the map of the area, it’s a clear path, it’s nothing dangerous, lots of people walk every day, every few minutes, that’s why it’s very strange because it’s a clear path .”

A friend of the person Mosley was staying with said she was struggling to understand how someone could wander to the side of the island they were believed to be on. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Drive programme, she said: ‘It’s a road that goes up the mountain but it’s been widened recently and there’s only one route so it’s not possible to lose your way.

“So it’s probably a 20-minute walk up the side of the mountain, but it’s not too rough or something that would be seen to be too dangerous, it’s something that tourists do every day in the summer. I have difficulty understanding how you can go astray.”

A local Facebook group said Mosley went for a walk on Saint Nikolas beach on Wednesday around 1:30pm Greek time.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities.”