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ED SOUTHGATE
Being there when Michael Mosley was found was overwhelming and horrifying – I was on verge of tears
Search parties were looking so close to this area in the previous days without noticing his exposed body
EARLY yesterday we headed to Agia Marina with British journalists to view the area known as the Abyss caves following fears Dr Michael Mosley may have fallen in there.
What we found was much worse than anything I could have ever imagined.
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He had endured more than a two-hour walk in searing temperatures to get to this point.
Sun photographer Simon Jones and I wanted to film a piece explaining the latest development.
But we were interrupted by the bar’s manager who was indicating he had seen something on the other side of the barbed wire fence.
I peered over and saw the body of Dr Mosley, with a dropped umbrella nearby.
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I froze. It was horrifying and incredibly overwhelming. I was hit by an intense shock and sadness. I felt sick and at several points I was on the verge of tears.
It is among the saddest stories I have worked on.
Immediately I dashed back to the restaurant area where everyone else was to help raise the alarm.
“There’s a body over there,” I said, as the bar manager got his colleague to phone the police.
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It then became chaotic. I was still trying to process what I had just seen.
Staff were running around and trying to keep people away as tourists were coming up trying to see what was going on.
Body found in search for missing TV doctor Michael Mosley who vanished on Greek holiday island
I was here to report on the search for Dr Michael Mosley.
The tragedy of this is that he was just yards from the beach resort where he could have sat and had water.
Search parties were looking so close to this area in the previous days without noticing his exposed body, and even a low-flying helicopter had scoured the terrain. But he was never found.
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Timeline of Dr Mosley's disappearance
WEDNESDAY JUNE 5
- 1.30pm: Dr Mosley decides to walk home alone to his holiday home in the town of Symi after going for a swim at a beach
- 1.50pm: The walk home is said to take around 20 minutes from Saint Nikolaos beach despite the doctor never making it back
- 1.52pm: CCTV catches Dr Mosley walking past a shop in Pedi
- Approx 2.20pm: Witnesses claim to have seen Dr Mosley talking to an elderly man in the town with one other person present
- 2.30pm-5pm: Doc was last seen on a house camera on a treacherous path heading towards the Agia Marina
- 7.30pm: Dr Mosley's wife, Dr Clare Bailey, raises the alarm and calls cops
THURSDAY JUNE 6
- 10.30am: Police file missing person report and the search gets underway
- 11am: Police appeal for any information
- 2pm: Six firefighters, a vehicle and a drone team were all seen arriving in Symi from Rhodes
- 7pm: Helicopters deployed over the island
- 8pm: First day of the search called off for the night
FRIDAY JUNE 7
- 7am Extra police squadrons, coast guard officials, specially-trained sniffer dogs and military helicopters helped in the search
- 5pm The first CCTV images are released of Dr Mosley with his umbrella near the Blue Corner bar
SATURDAY JUNE 8
- 7am Police launch a search of a new area of around 7km as they step up the hunt
- 10.50am: New CCTV is released showing Mosley leaving Pedi and heading towards mountainous path
- 11am Symi's mayor says 'no chance' search will be called off until he is found
- 12pm Mosley's wife Clare says the family will 'not lose hope' but confesses the last few days have been 'unbearable'
- 3pm A helicopter joins the search effort in the mountains
SUNDAY JUNE 9
- 10.50am Body found in the search close to caves known as 'The Abyss'
- 11am Police say they believe the body to be that of Dr Mosley
- 2.50pm Body removed by boat from Symi
- 3.30pm Dr Clare Bailey confirms her 'wonderful' husband's death
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