British TV personality and health guru Michael Mosley may have died shortly after becoming ill while walking alone on the Greek island of Symi, local police told CNN on Monday.
Mosley, a television doctor who popularized a type of intermittent fasting known as the 5:2 diet, was on vacation when he went missing on Wednesday, sparking an enormous days-long search involving the police, fire service, coast guard and volunteers.
His body was found on Sunday about a two-hour walk from Agios Nikolaos beach, from where he set off on his walk. Police believe he died around 4 pm local time (9 am ET) on Wednesday, the day he went missing, Greek police officer Konstantia Dimoglidou told CNN.
An initial autopsy concluded that Mosley died from natural causes and that there were no injuries on his body that could have caused his death, the BBC reported.
Dimoglidou told CNN that police do not believe Mosley had been sitting down for a long time before dying, as his time of death was similar to the length of time it would have taken for him to reach the spot.
Mosley’s body was found when a boat carrying the island’s mayor, Lefteris Papakalodoukas, and some journalists spotted him lying face-up next to a fence about 20 meters (66 feet) above Agia Marina beach, Papakalodoukas told the Associated Press.
The position in which his body was found suggests he was sitting at the time of his death, Dimoglidou said.
Mosley’s wife, Dr. Clare Bailey, paid tribute to her “wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant” husband after his body was found, saying that he “did an incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen by the extensive search team.”
His family have identified the body to police but a formal identification using DNA samples has yet to take place, Dimoglidou added.
The television doctor was known for British documentary shows such as Channel 4’s “Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat?” and the BBC’s “Trust Me, I’m A Doctor.”
The 67-year-old broadcaster was also a regular on talk shows such as the BBC’s “The One Show” and ITV’s “This Morning,” and was a columnist for the Daily Mail.
He authored a book on the Fast 800 diet, which focuses on time-restricted eating for rapid weight loss. His wife wrote a recipe book as part of “The Fast 800” book series.
In 2002, Mosley was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding non-fiction special (informational) after executive producing the 2001 BBC mini-series “The Human Face,” which examined the science behind facial beauty, expression and fame.
The father-of-four deliberately infested himself with parasites to learn more about them for BBC’s 2014 show “Infested! Living with Parasites.”
Mosley’s impact on public health, particularly in Britain, was evident in the tributes paid to him. Former lawyer Tom Watson wrote on social media that Mosley “was a hero to me,” and that he “helped thousands of people get well and healthy. I’m one of them.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Mosley “will be known as an extraordinary broadcaster who used his platform to influence and change the way we think about many public health issues,” according to PA Media.
