An initial inquest has determined that the TV presenter Michael Mosley, whose body was found on the Greek island of Symi, almost certainly died of natural causes.

A coroner in Rhodes on Monday ruled out foul play, saying there were no injuries to suggest the 67-year-old, who was discovered five days after disappearing during a walk, had fallen victim to a crime.

“It has emerged there are no injuries that can be linked to a criminal act,” reported Greece’s public broadcaster, ERT.

A forensic scientist, Panayiotis Kotretsis, ordered further toxicological and histological tests in the hope of being able to pinpoint the precise cause of death. The results are not expected for several months.

Mosley’s body was transferred on a Hellenic coastguard vessel to Rhodes within hours of being found close to a beach bar an estimated nine miles (15km) away from the spot where he had said goodbye to his wife, Clare Bailey, and the friends the couple were visiting on the island.

Monday’s postmortem reflected growing consensus among Greek officials that Mosley probably died of exhaustion after taking a wrong turn and climbing through the rocky hills of Symi, a landscape as unforgiving as it is rugged.

The day Mosley set out on his walk the local temperature exceeded 37C (98.6F) – prompting an alert by the meteorological service – with the searing heat being at least 10C higher on the rocky promontory he traversed.

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A Greek police spokesperson and the island’s mayor said the position in which the Briton was found – face up with his left hand placed over his chest – in addition to the lack of injuries played a decisive role in the coroner’s conclusion.

“He wasn’t found face down, he was found face up which suggests he may have felt dizzy or simply unwell and laid down,” said Symi’s mayor, Lefteris Papakaloudoukas. “I think that says a lot.”

CCTV footage now in the possession of Greek police but not seen so far by any media outlets also supported the growing consensus that Mosley was exhausted by the time he neared the beach bar about two hours after he set off from St Nikolas beach to Symi’s port town where the couple were being hosted.

He and Bailey, who paid tribute to her “wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband”, had arrived on holiday the day before.

Mosely’s body is expected to be returned to the UK this week escorted by his wife and their four children, who accompanied their mother to Rhodes.

Mosley rose to fame on British TV popularising intermittent fasting and the 5:2 diet. His disappearance triggered one of the biggest search and rescue missions in Greece in living memory with police, firefighters, volunteers helicopters, drones and a sniffer dog taking part.

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