A British celebrity doctor mysteriously disappeared while on vacation in Greece - prompting a search-and-rescue operation involving dogs and helicopters.
Michael Mosley, 67, is well-known in the United Kingdom for appearing on BBC television shows including "Trust Me, I'm A Doctor." He was last seen hiking on the island of Symi around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. He never returned from the walk and his wife reported him missing at around 7:30 p.m.
Officials involved in the search-and-rescue efforts noted that the circumstances were strange - with one comparing the disappearance to a "thriller."
"It's crazy, it makes no sense," an official told the Guardian. "How can somebody just disappear in broad daylight, in the middle of the day? If something had happened to him we would have found him on, or near, the path he was walking along on his way back to the port where he was staying with friends. And, yet, all these hours later there's nothing."
Symi Mayor Eleftherios Papakalodoukas told the BBC that local firefighters believe it's impossible that Mosley is still on the island.
"It is a very small, controlled area, full of people. So if something happened to him there, we would have found him by now," he said. The mayor added that it was more likely that Mosley either followed the wrong hiking trail or fell into the sea.
Officials from other Greek islands and technology, including drones, were deployed in Symi to aid search efforts.
"We've got every service possible out there looking for him," a police chief told the Guardian. "He was officially reported missing this morning and now there are police, firemen and volunteers involved in the search."
"We are working on the assumption that he might have been affected by the heat, that he might have slipped and fallen perhaps from a height," the official added. "Right now nothing is being ruled out."
