Drones and police are searching for British TV doctor and columnist Michael Mosley after he went missing while on holiday in Greece.

A search and rescue operation is under way in Symi, one of the Dodecanese Islands, for Mosley, well known in the United Kingdom for programs including the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.

He also appeared on BBC’s The One Show and ITV’s This Morning.

He popularised the 5:2 diet which endorses intermittent fasting.

A statement from local police, which has been translated, said they were informed about the “disappearance of the 67-year-old British national on the island” on Wednesday.

It opened an investigation to find him and a search is being “carried out by the Fire Brigade with the assistance of forces of the Hellenic Police, Civil Protection (a local and regional coordination agency), volunteers and a police dog, while technical means such as drones are also used to locate the missing person”.

Fire services said they were asked by officers on Thursday at about 11.15am to help the search.

Six firefighters, a vehicle and a drone team were sent from the nearby island of Rhodes to help, arriving in Symi at about 2pm.

His agent confirmed his disappearance to the PA news agency.

Symi is a sparsely populated rocky island about 16km long with about 2500 residents.

A local Facebook group said Mosley went for a walk from Saint Nikolas Beach at about 1.30pm Greek time on Wednesday but had not returned by Thursday morning.

A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities.”

Mosley is also a columnist for the Daily Mail newspaper and has made a number of films about diet and exercise.

Trust Me I’m A Doctor star Saleyha Ahsan wrote on social media that the news was “shocking” and that she was hoping Mosley would be “found safe”.

“I literally feel sick with worry,” Ahsan added. “Don’t even know what to say.”

He also lived with tapeworms in his gut for six weeks for the documentary Infested! Living With Parasites on BBC Four.

Mosley received an Emmy nod for BBC science documentary The Human Face, presented by John Cleese and featuring a raft of human faces including Elizabeth Hurley, Pierce Brosnan and Sir David Attenborough.

Mosley has four children with his wife Clare Bailey Mosley, also a doctor, author and health columnist, who wrote the recipe book Fast 800 Easy.

–with Reuters