Thread 3 - Michael Mosley missing after disappearing on holiday walk

[ConesFones]

Continuing

The whole thing is very odd. And the reporting is all over the place.

What's missing from this is that his wife doesn't seem to have said what the 'plan' was.

ie- was he going for a walk then back to them on the beach? Or was he walking to their accommodation?

Today (BBC news) she's reported as saying he was going for a walk.
Earlier in the week it appeared he was walking to the villa in Symi town.

Did they not discuss where he was going before he set off?

Also- another anomaly- is that today the Mail is headlining a 'search in the caves' (which are on the far east if the island, nowhere near the path he is thought to have taken) BUT the BBC (news on radio) says the focus in on the mountainous track towards Symi town.

But no one knows.

The dog was getting it's paws burnt from the rocks, according to sky news.

Perhaps they’re searching both areas? The caves would require some specialist equipment and the land area search could be continued by general searchers.

I see there are also inland caves on Symi. Could he have thought to explore one of those and had a fall? If we accept he was going for a walk rather than going straight back to the villa, then I’d think cooler options would be more likely, eg caves, monasteries, secluded beaches, etc.

We don’t know he was intending to go back to the villa.

This is what I find so odd.

Surely if you were leaving a party (wife and friends) and 'going for a walk' you'd discuss timing and when to meet up?

Most people would say they'd be going to X, and be back in an hour or two, OR say they'd be out all day and meet up again at the villa.

And as they'd arrived on the beach by boat, didn't they discuss what time they'd be getting the boat back? (And if he'd be back from his walk to get the boat.)

Did he really just say 'Right folks, I'm off for a walk.'

And that was it?

also to be fair i have seen about four different people giving comments or being identified as ‘mayor’ or ‘deputy’ mayor so maybe it’s not all one fella constantly chatting all day long

@GingerbicciesPlease i didn’t see any speculation about mental health from any of these though (in the greek press). I’m only seeing that on here. Entirely possible i’m not looking properly!

But the quotes from any of these maybe-mayors that i’ve seen, are more around not being able to understand why someone goes off in heat, without a phone, not knowing the island etc, but this is said to express the urgency of the situation and the commitment to not concluding the search til he is found. I’m wondering if in translation something is getting a bit lost?

I agree with others that the difference between this case and high profile cases in UK is that in UK the police give regular media updates with clear information about what’s known (or what they want public to know) and asking the public for info.

But in lots of other countries, the police aren’t allowed (by judiciary) or accustomed to speak about investigations. I’m not sure how the system works in Greece.

Without reliable police updates, it leaves a vacuum that can get filled by conjecture and misreporting by the media. I agree the Mayor’s statements aren’t really helping.

From what I can tell, it does now appear (from cctv sightings) that he didn’t attempt to get a bus. The time stamps on cctv suggest he walked directly and briskly to the end of the harbour in Pedi without stopping.

The statement from his wife simply says he went for a walk. Presumably she knows more about where he intended to go. But the only two possibilities now appear to be that he planned to walk to/via the peninsula beach (Agia Marina) or over the peninsula and into Symi that way

But why not go out early morning or evening or I don't know, put paw covers on? if it's representative of the searchers problem solving skills it's isn't very reassuring.

The mayor says there’s 100 people looking for him:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jun/08/michael-mosley-search-will-not-stop-until-he-is-found-says-symi-mayor-greece

I've done this when walking off in a huff because I was angry at someone's words/actions and needed to cool off

I also wonder whether there was a bit of a tiff. He would have then just gone off and wouldn’t have said where he was going.

They said that in the last CCTV clip (where he was heading towards mountain path) they couldn't see the umbrella. I wonder if he put it in his rucksack.

The statement from his wife simply says he went for a walk. Presumably she knows more about where he intended to go. But the only two possibilities now appear to be that he planned to walk to/via the peninsula beach (Agia Marina) or over the peninsula and into Symi that way

The impression given is that he/they weren't communicating much with each other.

Or she knows more and it's not being shared.

It's hard to believe he just said he was going for a walk and didn't say how long he'd be, and where they'd meet up.

Most people say where they are going, how long they'll be and where they will meet .

And then there's the confusion that he was 'tired' which became 'feeling unwell'.

I don't know if that came from his wife as there's so much poor and contradictory reporting.

Maybe they have to get transport back to the mainland so work more 'office hours' as it were. As someone else said, there is possibly nowhere to stay.

I know in this country we take our animals and animals sports very seriously, but I don't know if they do in Greece and whether dogs are relied on as much as in the UK. Sniffing is hard mental work for a dog too - I suppose if they lose concentration and follow the wrong scent, that is more unhelpful than not doing it at all.

I hadn’t realised this. What would prompt someone who had been using it as a sun parasol to suddenly put it away. It looked like a mini umbrella not one he could use as a walking pole?

I think the poor mayor and the locals can’t make any sense of it. Why this pensioner doctor would choose to walk so fast in the midday sun by himself no phone and no communication. However this appears to be normal behaviour for many British men according to this thread. I understand why this might baffle the locals.

I read a interview a few years ago where he said he was claustrophobic. Apparently he did caving once and got trapped in a cave and was completely freaking out. Would be awful if he's trapped in a cave now.

@EdithBond It's the heat on the dogs' paws.

Even in the UK you aren't supposed to take dogs out on pavements when it's hot weather.

So that they could use both hands to help climb up a steep, shale slope?

I have also just stormed off in a huff to cool off after a heated argument. Not always knowing where my feet are taking me. It does happen. No one can say for sure what happened on the run up to Dr Mosley going missing.

Honestly thought we would have news by now.

Possibly I guess wow what bizarre behaviour.

Not sure. Maybe he thought it was difficult to climb that steep hill holding an umbrella? Or maybe he was tired of carrying it or lost it? Hope he still had it because obviously it offered some protection.

I'm sorry to say this but the timeline currently on the BBC website which shows the scale of the search is quite depressing.
The first helicopter wasn't flown until 24 hours after he disappeared.
Only 6 firefighters were on the initial search.
I know it's a tiny Greek island but his wife says she's in touch with the British Consulate and I'd have thought we could have helped with a search sooner, considering we have a huge RAF/ forces base in Cyprus, not far away.

I also wondered about an argument- leading him to walk off without his phone/ communicating a plan.
This is absolutely no criticism- any couple can have an argument. The poor wife and family must be in utter turmoil just now.

Equally my DH can go off on a normal walk, get thoroughly distracted from his original plan, and end up walking further than he planned. It actually happened recently on holiday. But then he did have his phone with him and I was able to get in touch with him. He didn’t take me because I have a chronic illness, and our friends were busy with other things.
But accidents and unexpected medical events do happen, and DH was in a completely different location to where we thought he was. So I feel these things can easily happen, and absolutely no judgement on anyone.

Adding the bit that this was also in Greece.
see two posts later. This thread moves fast!

Earlier on we assumed that the report “walk back to Pedi and get the bus to Symi town” were all part of a continuous action: get to Pedi, get on the first bus. But maybe the plan was to go back to Pedi, amble around that area (maybe including the sea cave area) and then return to Pedi to get the bus back to Symi town, arriving at a similar time to when the boat from the beach would get back bearing his wife and friends? If that were so, it’s possible he didn’t specify the walk he planned to do from Pedi, or perhaps hadn’t even decided when he left the beach.