On Sunday morning, the mayor of Symi was on a boat with a Greek television crew when they spotted something on the shore near the Agia Marina resort.

Zooming in with their cameras, they believed they might have located Michael Mosely, the missing television doctor.

After more than three days of searching, Mayor Lefteris Papakalodoukas had finally made the breakthrough no one wanted to make.

Just yards from holidaymakers, Dr Mosely’s body was found behind the fence that separates the resort from the barren undergrowth of the Greek Island.

It was around 55 yards from the Agia Marina near an area known as The Abyss, a water-filled “bottomless” cave and a network of tunnels.

The camera crew on the boat were 330 yards from the shore when they first spotted Dr Moseley. 

Antonios, a cameraman who was on the boat, said: “When we went up to Agia Marina beach, I noticed outside of the fence at the end of the beach something black. 

“I wasn’t sure so I took a close-up with the camera as far as I could zoom, it was about 300 metres [330 yards] away.

“I saw something and I wasn’t sure... We went a little bit closer, about 200 metres [220 yards]...”

Antonios choked up as he added: “The description is exactly as the guy we are looking for. I’m really sorry for the family. I’m sorry that I’m the one who found him. I wish we had better news.”

“It was a rocky place with sharp rocks,” he added. “My guess is that he got dizzy, he sat down to relax and he fainted. That’s my guess.”

Questions remain about why Dr Mosley did not make it to the beach bar when he had been so close.

He had arrived on Symi on Tuesday with his Dr Claire Bailey to stay with friends who have a house on the island. Dr Mosley’s brother, Arthur, revealed he had been in “good spirits” and was looking forward to his trip.

On Wednesday morning the group had decided to take a boat-taxi from the Symi port up the coast. 

They stopped at Saint Nicholas beach, where Dr Mosley, 67, went for a swim in the sea.

They are thought to have whiled away the morning near the St Nicholas Beach restaurant. The cafe’s security camera showed Dr Mosley using its bathroom at around 1pm.

But the return boat service was not due until 4pm and Dr Mosley, who enjoyed hiking on the island, opted to make the 2.2-mile walk back on his own, telling his wife and friends that he would see them back at their villa.

Dressed in his holiday attire, a blue polo shirt and blue shorts, with sunglasses and a baseball cap, he carried a small backpack and an umbrella to shield himself from the intense sun, with temperatures up to 47C.

Chrisa Zauroudi, who works at the St Nicholas beach bar, recalled seeing Dr Mosley and his wife on a sunbed in the shade of a tree on Wednesday morning.

She said: “I saw him walk across the beach and then he went to the steps (to the path). 

“He walked about half-way up and then he looked and walked back down and he returned to his wife.

“A little while later I saw him leave. He stopped to look at the drinks on the bar and then he went back to the steps.

“It was about 1.30pm. He was carrying a purple umbrella. I didn’t see him again. It was very hot, too hot, like today. I thought it was strange to walk when it was so hot.”

Dr Mosley set off from the beach at 1.30pm.

He walked from the beach, known in Greek as Agios Nikolaos, along a clearly defined clifftop path to the small holiday resort of Pedi. 

There, he was captured on CCTV outside the Blue Corner cafe around 20 minutes later.

From Pedi, the direct route back to Symi Town, should have taken around 40 minutes on foot, passing through the village of Chorio. He needed to have taken a turn out of the village at Pedi. 

But at around the same time, Dr Mosley was captured on a separate CCTV appearing to embark on a treacherous mountainous path heading in the opposite direction, to the other side of the headland to the east.

The route would have added three hours to the walk along an old path that he first appeared to be following.

‘Technically difficult’

The rocky path rises above jagged limestone terrain and roughly tracks along the coast. However, it is not marked and guidebooks warn it is “technically difficult” terrain.

Had he managed to stick to the path though, Dr Mosley would eventually have reached the perimeter of a popular beach bar at the Agia Marina.

Police fear that rather than sticking to the route, perhaps disorientated and aware he had already made a wrong turn, he veered off the path in an attempt to double back on himself.

This would have taken him inland.

Dr Mosely may well have been suffering from the effects of heat exhaustion, which can cause tiredness; dizziness and nausea.

The Agia Marina resort is almost entirely surrounded by the perimeter fence and is nearly always accessed by boat. Just two small entrances near the coast allow access from the Island itself.

A lost walker could easily get to the fence and be unable to raise the alarm of anyone in the resort. Instead, Had he taken his mobile phone, he would have been able to call for help, or perhaps later, be tracked by rescuers.

It also remains a mystery why the extensive search operation did not locate him any sooner.

His disappearance triggered a major search and rescue operation involving every available coastguard officer, firefighters, divers and a specialist police dog unit who spent three days scouring the tiny island for any sign of the father-of-four.

An officer on the island told The Telegraph that about 30 personnel had been deployed to look for the father-of-four.

Ilias Tsavaris, 38, the resort manager, said: “Rescuers had searched that area every day with helicopters.  They searched everywhere, I don’t know (how they didn’t find the body), and all day yesterday it was choppers, choppers, one chopper actually.”

He said firefighters had also walked down the rocky slope a few metres above where the body was discovered.

Antonias added: “This area has been searched goodness knows how many times. This point about 20 times.. There were drones there was everything. I think it’s just bad luck.”