Thread 2 - Michael Mosley missing after disappearing on holiday walk

[Rubbishconfession]

Following on from thread 1, linked below.

Let's hope the CCTV / sighting in town gives a glimmer of home that he made the walk from the beach to town ok.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5090880-michael-moseley-missing-after-disappearing-on-holiday-walk?page=10&reply=135846185

Yes that was an awful post.

I could see my husband doing exactly this. He loves a walk and a wander on holiday, he’s not worried about a few hills or rough paths, he’d see it as a bit of an adventure.

Yes he probably thought he would feel silly going back to the beach or waiting in pedi. So decided how hard can it be to just walk back

Yes he doesn't look like he has a backpack with him or anything, which is worrying that he does not seem to have a bottle of water with him. I wonder if hes got dehydrated and confused, which would lead to making unwise decisions. Its worrying that he hasnt been found after all this time.

i am sure he would have had a back pack,

The photo of him leaving the beach shows him with only a small daypack.

He had a back pack on the beach. Also him wearing bright colours should make it easier to find him unless he’s fallen somewhere or deliberately found somewhere dark to shelter. Now they are looking in the right place hopefully there will be some news.

Unlikely as it seems, the fact that no body has been found could be explained by the fact that there is no body to be found... because he's no longer on the island for whatever reason and alive - and I don't mean that he's fallen in the sea; it's possible, unlikely I'll admit, but I'm hoping that's the case.

That has crossed my mind, it's a very small island so maybe he deliberately doesn't want to be found.

Even in a small island it’s possible to get lost on footpaths especially in the heat. And people don’t always give great advice/directions. Me and DH were once on holiday on a different Greek island and had read that you could walk from the village the hotel was in, to another local village, in an easy 20 min walk. We thought we’d check with the hotel staff that we were headed the right way. They said yes this road does go to XXX but cars drive on this road and there’s no proper walk way so it’s better to take this other path instead. It takes a bit longer but it’s nicer and safer and you can’t get hit by a car. So then we set off up the little footpath they’d pointed us towards… it just kept going up and up and up and we kept thinking we must be there soon so we can’t turn back as it will surely take longer to get back home. In places it wasn’t obvious which way to go. After about 2.5 hours we eventually arrive at this other village that was originally meant to be a 20 min walk away on the main road so we only had a small bottle of water with us. We both felt quite unwell and spent a while recuperating with cold drinks in a small cafe that was opposite where the path ended. They asked if we were ok and we explained what had happened and the cafe owner offered to call us a “taxi that she knew” to take us back as we were very tired. We agreed and ended up in a taxi that took a very long time, presumably on purpose having gone the long way round, who then charged us something like 40 euro for a distance that should have been a 20 min walk so a 5 min drive. I’m convinced that this was a pre-planned scam between the hotel staff, the cafe owner and the “taxi” driver to extort money from holiday makers - we spent money at the cafe because we were so tired and thirsty and we then overcharged in a rogue taxi. Someone could have easily collapsed in the heat or become unwell or got lost on that path and it would not have been easy to get help.

Yes, mine too. I recently did a 20 minute walk in Greece. It wasn’t anything like as hot at the time and at the end I was pouring sweat and exhausted so God knows how he felt.

MM isn't as well known here in Oz, although a few of his programs have been on. Still, it's making news just because it's a bit of a mystery.

Anyone can have a sudden cardiac or brain event and just drop. But why hasn't he been found? His family must be in bits.

You'd hope that all the boat taxi drivers had already been asked if they'd taken him, its not peak holiday season yet so you'd think there wouldnt be huge numbers of passengers every day. I think they said the taxi service was infrequent

I don't suppose it made the news in Oz but one thing I remember well is he and his wife spending 2 weeks in a hotel room, maybe in Sydney, in COVID quarantine and the exercises and other things they did to get through it

Now that they’re focussing the search on where he was last seen heading let’s hope & pray he is found ok today. I’m out for my 40th birthday today but I can’t stop of thinking this!

This is so true. The Greeks are pulling out all the stops they can, and I saw somewhere yesterday evening that the mayor of Symi's daughter said she and local volunteers would continue searching into the night. I can't remember the source for that, I'm afraid, before anyone asks.

There's a map in a post yesterday evening.

He was confirmed as having reached Pedi from St Nicks and looks in good shape (moving well, no signs of stress on CCTV)

The maps shows there are THREE paths between Pedi and Simi - one is the road, which would be a hard hot slog (reflected heat, risks of traffic incident) but a place where he would easily be found as long as he didn't randomly wander off it (symptoms of heatstroke include confusion, disorientation and even hallucination, so we cannot rule out erratic decisions).

The other two paths are much harder terrain, easier to lose your way, and the longer one (which, from the description of where a witness last say him. may be the one he chose).

We don't know how much searching they have done of that path (eg by drone) and now it's light, they say they will be back in that area. But that's two trails in difficult terrain that they need to cover thoroughly. Not easy, even if additional specialists have now arrived on the island. And of course, they'll have to go at snails pace to avoid becoming heat casualties themselves (forecast remaining high 30s? Above body temperature - hugely hazardous)

I think the chances for his survival, without water, after this amount of time are now very low. But I'm still hoping

I remember that vaguely. Also remember that one of his doctor-sons was working over here for a while.

It's still headline news on the ABC, maybe he's better known than I thought. Or, people just love a good mystery. I'd like to think he'll suddenly pop up alive and well but surely that's unlikely at this point.

Not sure if anyone is aware. Here is the helicopter flight path from the 6th. Not seen any more flights there since (not saying there hasn't been). Looks like they had a little look the other side on the mountain path but mainly concentrated on the beach to Pedi (but again could've been more helicopters).

He's extremely well-known in Australia, for anyone who ever watches SBS. He has had numerous programs on air on SBS, usually several per year, and most recently one about new discoveries in treating insomnia.

The last cctv footage shows him heading off down a path to a mountainous area that leads to where he was staying. That's where they're focusing the search on today.
I think the most likely situation is - he made it to pedi, couldn't get a bus so decided to walk this scenic route through the mountains. He's a keen hiker and I think he underestimated how far it was. During this walk he got lost (apparently it's easily done there). Maybe he had a heart attack but equally likely he just got heat stroke and collapsed somewhere. They haven't searched this area yet as they were looking at another area. I'm really hoping the find him today.

How are people so utterly invested and obsessed to come out with this?
Jesus. It's terrible and I really hope he's found soon but the level of obsession in some people is downright bizzare

I'm thinking that today will be the day they find him, they now have a better idea of the path he took, time to get suitable drones, dogs, people for the search from there mainland. Maybe family and friends now joining in to look

To counter some pretty nasty and rude racist comments I think. Greece isn't a third world country made up of incompetent people who can't conduct a search as well as Britain would.

Do we know how Mm, wife and friends got to Pedi from their villa to cater the water boat to the beach in the morning and if this was the 1st time for him on this island.