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fullscreenMichael Mosley hides under the umbrella. Photo: Greek Police
Michael Mosley shields himself from the heat with an umbrella as he walks outside the restaurant.
The picture caused the police to change their theory.
– That has made it even more mysterious, says a police officer to The Guardian.
The doctor and journalist Michael Mosley, known as the man behind the 5:2 diet, had been missing for more than 48 hours on Friday evening.
The massive search effort on the Greek island of Symi has been expanded hour by hour.
The police have collected footage from surveillance cameras along the entire coastal strip.
The picture disproves the theory
Now a picture taken outside a restaurant in the coastal village of Pedi shows that the 67-year-old has gone further than originally thought.
Initially, the theory was that Mosley had disappeared along the road between the beach and Pedi.
In the photo, the diet guru is seen strolling past the Blue Corner Café restaurant in Pedi about 20 minutes after leaving the beach to walk along the bay towards the village.
Then it is 1:52 pm on Wednesday afternoon.
He wears the same clothes as in the previous photos published from the beach and he protects his head from the almost 40 degree heat with an umbrella.
“Even more mysterious”
– Now we know that he made it to the other side of the path. But in a way that has made it even more mysterious, says a police officer who helps coordinate the major operation to The Guardian.
– Now we have to ask ourselves where he got from there and if he went some other unexpected way. Did he slip and fall? We are still no closer to solving this.
Mosley was on his way to the house he and his wife rent in the seaside town of Symi.
Police do not know if his plan was to proceed from Pedi by bus or by boat along the coast.
It was during the morning on Wednesday that Mosley, the wife and two friends of the couple took a boat to St Nikolas beach.
Alarmed in the evening
The diet guru had left his cell phone in the house.
After lunch he decided to take a walk into Pedi’s to later get to the house on his own.
When the wife and friends returned to the house in Symi town, he was not there. And as the hours passed, their anxiety increased.
At 19.30 they called the police.
Two hours later, a larger operation began with helicopters and drones.
During Friday, the effort was expanded with divers, the coast guard and a search dog brought in from Athens.
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full screen Last picture of Michael Mosley. A major search operation is now underway on the island of Symi.
Puzzled by the disappearance
More police have also been brought in from other parts of Greece.
The authorities on the small tourist island are puzzled by the disappearance.
– Symi is a small, very small, island. It is difficult to disappear on such a small surface. One scenario is that he left the island, but the chance is not great because we did not find a boat ticket in his name, says Symi’s mayor Eleftherios Papakalodoukas.
– It’s like the ground opened up and swallowed him, says deputy mayor Nikitas Gryllis.
The police state that they will continue to search until the mystery is solved.
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fullscreen Search operation with helicopter. Photo: Panormitis Chatzigiannakis / TT
The family was shocked
– I have worked in the police for more than 30 years and I am surprised that we are still looking for him, but a man cannot just disappear into thin air, says the policeman to The Guardian.
– With the help of the dog, it will soon be clear whether we should continue to search on land, search in the city of Symi or search elsewhere for this man whose disappearance has become such a big mystery.
Mosley’s four grown children, three sons and a daughter, have flown to the island to join the search effort.
His brother Arthur has spoken in the British press and said that the family is shocked and has difficulty understanding what happened.