Failure to find Dr Michael Mosley sooner has been branded “absurd” by a police source.
Following reports the search and rescue team appeared to have come very close to the British doctor on Saturday, one day before his body was found, the source told The Sun: “We had everyone — every service, in every branch out there looking for him on this small island. It’s absurd we didn’t find him and questions will be asked.
“The CCTV cameras should have been checked much sooner and more quickly.”
The body of Dr Mosley, one of Britain’s most famous doctors, was found four days after he went missing on the Greek island of Symi.
The health and diet guru, known by many for his appearances on ITV’s This Morning and BBC’s The One Show, was reported missing at 7.30pm on Wednesday, a few hours after he had set off alone to walk back from Saint Nicholas Beach to the accommodation in Symi town where he was staying with his wife, Dr Clare Bailey Mosley.
The journey should have taken less than half an hour, but Dr Mosley is feared to have taken the wrong turn and clambered over a rocky two-mile trail as blistering temperatures reached nearly 40C.
The search operations prompted by Dr Mosley’s disappearance involved around 100 people, a sniffer dog, drones and a helicopter.
The body of the British doctor was eventually found on the other side of the fence bordering Agia Marina, an area accessible only by foot or water taxi. His backpack was spotted 20ft further up the hill.
The area had been searched on foot by firefighters and from above via helicopter on Saturday, according to local bar manager Ilias Tsavaris, one of the first people to find Dr Mosley.
The diet expert was captured on several CCTV cameras walking through the town of Pedi and then near a yacht club in Marina Symi.
Footage seen by The Sun reportedly showed Dr Mosley walking down the route towards Agia Marina at around 3.44pm local time on Wednesday, some two hours and 14 minutes after he left the beach, and descending towards a wall before disappearing from view.