Greek authorities said on Thursday they were searching for Michael Mosley, a prominent British journalist and television presenter who had disappeared the day before while taking a walk on the island of Symi.
Mr. Mosley, 67, was reported missing by his wife, Clare Bailey, on Wednesday afternoon, according to Constantina Dimoglidou, a Greek police spokeswoman. The couple had arrived in Symi on Tuesday, intending to stay for a week.
“We are looking for him everywhere,” Ms. Dimoglidou said, adding that local firefighters and volunteers were involved in the search. Greek firefighters said on Thursday that a team of six firefighters was searching for a missing foreign national in Symi, part of the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea, and that drones had been sent from the nearby island of Rhodes.
Mr Mosley told friends on Wednesday afternoon that he would walk about two miles from the Agios Nikolaos area to the main town of Symi, where the couple were staying, according to Ms Dimoglidou. He was last seen by a witness at a bus stop in Pedi, about halfway between the two locations, and he did not have his cellphone with him when he disappeared, he said.
It was possible, he said, that Mr Mosley had felt dizzy from the heat. Temperatures in Symi have hovered around 95 degrees Fahrenheit this week, and Greek weather authorities have urged vigilance over the risk of high heat.
“It's rough terrain with high spots, so it's possible he fell,” Ms Dimoglidou said. His disappearance also sparked a request for information in a local Facebook group, where a post said Mr Mosley had left around 1.30pm and never showed up at his accommodation.
Mr. Mosley studied medicine before becoming a documentarian and science journalist who dispensed advice on diet, fasting and other health habits. He has become famous for his work debunking diet myths and is widely known as an advocate of intermittent fasting, writing several books on the topic.
A longtime BBC producer and presenter, he is the host of the broadcaster's “Just One Thing” health podcast and was nominated in 2002 for an Emmy on “The Human Face,” a series examining the science behind beauty.
More recently, he published two series with British broadcaster Channel 4 investigating obesity in Britain and the nutrition behind everyday consumer spending.