“It is unclear if he had an accident or if he felt unwell,” Papakalodoukas said.
The mayor said that the body appeared to have fallen down a steep slope, stopping against a fence and lying face-up with a few rocks on top of it. The body had a leather bag in one hand, said Antonis Mystiloglou, a cameraman with state TV ERT, who was also on the boat.
“It is certainly him,” said deputy mayor Nikitas Grillis, pending formal identification.
A member of the search team flying a drone on Symi as part of the search for Mosley.Credit: Getty Images
The coast guard and fire fighters had been deployed to the scene, a Reuters witness said. A coroner was on his way to Symi in a coast guard vessel, said a police official, adding that the body would be transferred to the neighbouring island of Rhodes.
Mosley disappeared after he set out on a stroll in searing temperatures along a rocky coastal path from Agios Nikolaos beach to the village of Pedi. Mosley did not have his mobile phone with him, hampering tracing efforts.
Symi, part of the Dodecanese island chain, is about 16 kilometres long and has 2500 residents.
Police, the fire brigade, the coast guard and volunteers have been searching on and off the island in the eastern Aegean assisted by a helicopter, drones and rescue dogs.
Mosley has appeared on programs including the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, the BBC’s The One Show, and ITV’s This Morning.
Saleyha Ahsan, a doctor who worked with Mosley at the BBC gave her “heartfelt condolences” to Mosley’s family.
“He lived and breathed his work,” she told Sky News. “He was an inspiration.”
‘Unbearable days’: Mosley’s wife statement
The discovery of a body came just hours after Mosley’s wife made a statement on his disappearance.
“It has been three days since Michael left the beach to go for a walk,” Dr Claire Bailey Mosley said in a statement to the Daily Mail, where her husband is a columnist.
“The longest and most unbearable days for myself and my children.”
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Bailey Mosley said her family were “incredibly grateful” for the search efforts and thanked locals for their support.
The couple’s four adult children arrived on the small island of Symi on Friday night.
CCTV footage emerged on Saturday that appeared to show Mosley leaving the Greek village of Pedi and heading towards a treacherous, rocky and hilly area.
As a result of the video, rescue workers had shifted their focus on Saturday to the mountainous area between Pedi and the beach of Agia Marina.
The London Telegraph reported the path was a longer three-hour route back to where he was staying in the town of Symi. It said rescue workers had previously been searching the more direct road route between the two villages.
Papakalodoukas told the London Sun the area was hilly, rocky and treacherous, and offered no shade from the 40-degree temperatures.
Reuters, AP
