TRAGIC Dr Michael Mosley sat down on a mountain slope before losing consciousness when he died just yards away from getting help, a coroner concluded.
The way he was positioned suggests Dr Mosley chose to lie down as his body was found with his legs raised on a rock without any sign of external injuries.
There is no indication that he was hit in the head or that he collapsed while walking, police sources said.
The Sun found the dad-of-four, 67, lying in a peaceful prone position.
Rhodes coroner Despina Nethena is said to have found that the condition of the body has made it impossible to determine a cause of death so far.
Further testing is underway and the results are needed before an exact cause of death can be found.
It appears that Dr Mosley, who had walked for more than two hours and was found in a shaded spot by the wall having taken off his rucksack, was following routine medical advice used to prevent fainting.
The NHS website encourages individuals who are feeling faint to lie down with their legs raised if they are ever feeling faint.
Agia Marina, a beach resort where he was found, was said to be one of the hottest areas in the region.
Temperatures between Wednesday and Sunday, when he was missing in the Greek island of Symi, were sometimes above 40C which accelerated the decomposition.
Symi mayor Lefteris Papakaloudoukas said the island was " in complete shock", adding: "We are saddened and in complete shock.
"Everyone wanted to find him alive. It's been hard, very hard and no one ever thought we'd ever find him where we did, so near to the beach."
Dr Mosley was tragically found around a 90 second walk and 260ft away from reaching Agia Marina, a beach resort which could have offered shade and water.
His heartbroken wife Dr Clare Bailey Mosley, 67, said on Sunday: "He so very nearly made it."
CCTV seen by The Sun showed him zig zagging at the top of the perimeter of Agia Marina at 3.44pm, and is thought to have been looking for the gate leading down to the beach.
He is then seen struggling down the rocky mountain before making his way to the wall.
He is thought to have held onto the wall before lying down.
But it appeared the way down was part of a walking route, as rocks had blue and red markings, but the route is unclear and very rocky underfoot with numerous trip hazards.
He was last seen on camera in Pedi at 1.52pm, meaning he was up in the mountainous walking route for around an hour and 45 minutes.
The walk from Pedi to Agia Marina can take 30-40 minutes, suggesting he may have gone off track.
On Monday, his heartbroken friends arrived at the spot and laid a single white flower.
Two men and a woman arrived on the rocky mountain just before midday and wiped tears from their eyes.
They crouched down for almost 20 minutes and consoled each other on the other side of the wall from Agia Marina in Symi before leaving again by boat.
The flower they left was an oleander flower, a symbol in Greek mythology for charm.
It is associated with a poignant tale of lovers where the man died against rocks.
They asked to be shown the exact spot where he was found before saying: "Can we have a moment?" They later said thank you when told they were brave to come.
It came five days after his wife Clare reported him missing on Wednesday, the day after they arrived in Symi.
He had left St Nikolas beach at 1.30pm and she raised the alarm when he failed to return home six hours later.
He was seen on CCTV walking through Pedi with an umbrella, having failed to take a left turn that would have taken him to Symi Town where he was staying.
Instead he carried on and went up a walking route which rescuers described as "treacherous" and "dangerous".
Search teams were out every day looking for him, including specialist search teams, fire crew, the Red Cross and Brit volunteers.
But questions remained last night about how it took five days before a barman and then a journalist found Dr Mosley.
Search crews scoured the rocky area less than 50 metres from where he was found just the day before, and a low-flying helicopter was going around the area for hours.
Bar manager Ilias Tsavaris, 38, who found the body, told The Sun of the long search: "It's unreal. The helicopters didn't see him. Why?
"They walked through the whole island. Okay, maybe who is going to believe he is behind the wall. You can miss it.
"But from drones and helicopters? The whole day before the helicopter was here, over there and back. Come on."
He said he ate nothing for the rest of the day after finding him and said it was upsetting for him to have had to see the body, adding:
"I'm not a doctor, I'm not used to that. It's not my job."
Ilias found Dr Mosley's body after the restaurant was called up and told to check out the area.
A Greek TV crew had caught a glint of his watch and told the mayor they had seen something unusual.
At the same time as Ilias was going over, The Sun was walking to the perimeter of the beach resort to film a piece to camera with an update on the search.
Ilias alerted us to something he had seen. The Sun then peered over the wall and saw the body, along with his distinctive umbrella, before rushing back to where others were gathered to help raise the alarm as Ilias got a colleague to phone the police.
Wife Clare said on Sunday that Michael was a "wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband".
And tributes continued pouring in for the late BBC doctor.
The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman yesterday called the outcome "heartbreaking", adding: said: "In what must be deeply sad times, we've seen some incredibly touching tributes which have made clear the huge impact that Dr Mosley had and helped had on people and helped to transform people's lives for the better.
"He'll be known as an extraordinary broadcaster who used his platform to influence and change the way we think about many public health issues."
Calypso Haggett, chief executive of The Fast 800 weight-loss programme, an intermittent fasting diet that Mosley popularised, he was a "shining light for the whole team" and his "incredible legacy" will "energise a continuous movement for better health".
Chris van Tulleken, Mosley's co-presenter on BBC series Trust Me, I'm A Doctor, said: "Broadcasting can be very competitive and a bit cut-throat.
"Michael set this tone where we have all become friends. On screen we're all pals, off screen we're all pals."
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