Local journalist David Blackmore has been describing the heartbreaking moment when he realised he and a Greek cameraman had spotted the body of missing TV doctor Michael Mosley.
David, who formerly lived in Upwell but now resides in King’s Lynn, is a reporter with ITV’s This Morning programme and was on the Greek island of Symi covering Dr Mosley’s disappearance.
The journalist had flown out to the island on Saturday to cover the story, which has dominated the headlines since Dr Mosley went missing after setting off for a walk leaving his wife Clare at a nearby beach on Wednesday (5).
Days of searching by foot, air, and sea ended in the tragic discovery yesterday morning (Sunday) as David was travelling on a water taxi with a group of fellow journalists and the mayor of Symi to some caves that were set to be the next focus of the search for Dr Mosley.
Speaking today (Monday) from Symi David said: “We were on a water taxi heading to the caves, but we had to make a stop at the Agia Marina to drop some tourists off.
“As we were heading back out to sea I was taking some general footage of the area as you never know what is going to be needed for a report. A Greek cameraman was doing the same. It was while we were filming that we both noticed something dark – we were quite a few hundred yards away so it was hard to make out.”
He continued: “We both tried to zoom in – I was filming on my phone so it was not as clear as the footage the cameraman had – but we showed the mayor what we had seen. It was only when the cameraman managed to download and zoom in to take a photo from the footage that we fully realised what we had seen.
“My heart absolutely sank as it became clear to us that it was a man and we could see an umbrella and there was a flickering light that looked like it was bouncing off a watch. It was so heartbreaking as he was so close to the marina and safety.
“He had tackled a really challenging route and had almost made it. I had arrived on Saturday and got up really early in the morning to walk the route and I completed it but it was really tough. It was early in the morning but the temperatures were already around 25 or 26 degrees.
“When Michael would have been walking it would have been 40 degrees.”
David said what made the discovery all the worse was the fact the area had been the focus of a helicopter search the day before, but the spot was low-down it was impossible to see Dr Mosley.
“I think the reason they didn’t spot him was because they were viewing from above, we were looking across and he was visible from that angle. It was sheer luck that we spotted him. If the water taxi had not had to drop the tourists off then we would probably have gone straight to the caves and therefore would not have been in that vicinity to see Michael,” said David.
The grim discovery was all the more poignant for David as he has worked on This Morning for the past eight years and has worked alongside Dr Mosley when he has made numerous appearances on the programme.
David said: “It is always difficult to cover these types of stories as you always feel for the families involved. But it was incredibly hard to be covering a story involving someone I knew.
“He was an incredibly friendly, likable, and great person. It is so heartbreaking for his family, and it has been hard for all those who have helped in the search.
“Symi is a very small island and only has about 2,500 people living here and the local community has been very supportive and joined in the search doing everything they could to find Michael.”
A coroner has ruled out foul play but Dr Mosley’s body has been transported to neighbouring Rhodes island for a post-mortem to try to discover answers as to what happened to him.
David added: “Part of the problem is Michael did not have his phone with him. If he had it may have helped in the search, and it may also have allowed him to call for help – it is such a tragedy especially when you realise how close he was to making it to safety.”
