Tom Doherty missing: Family urgently searches for British doctor in Pyrenees after receiving ‘help’ message

Anne Doherty, wife of missing Tom Doherty, has spoken out about her husband’s disappearance.

She told French media FranceInfo that Mr Doherty “did not carry the complete and necessary equipment” while hiking alone in the French Pyrenees.

Ms Doherty also expressed doubts about her husband’s knowledge of the area, saying he “didn’t know the mountain very well”.

She revealed that Mr Doherty had visited the Pyrenees “15 years ago” and that while he often hiked, he usually only walked for “two or three hours”.

Father-of-four Tom Doherty is said to be a keen and experienced hiker who has spent much of his time in France since retiring a decade ago.

He and his wife, Anne, have four children.

Mr Doherty is also a grandfather, his daughter Rachel (whose quotes we’ve shared before) has a child with his son-in-law Tim Hughes.

His family said Mr Doherty was a respected tropical medicine consultant who worked for the NHS and around the world, specialising in malaria.

One of his former colleagues, Dr Emily Shaw, described him as a “dearly missed friend” and “former NHS colleague” in a post on X (originally Twitter).

“His family is extremely worried. All our thoughts are with them and him,” she wrote.

ICU consultant Jim Down posted: “A very lovely man. My condolences to Tom Doherty and his family.”

French authorities are urgently searching for the missing grandfather and have called in helicopters and search dogs to lead the search.

But conditions were tough, with foggy weather making the search for Mr Doherty even more difficult.

Photos from yesterday showed that search and rescue vehicles were shrouded in fog, with visibility limited to no more than 20 metres.

Search parties have found Mr Doherty’s tent and his car near Pouech de Gerac.

Authorities initially believed Tom was last seen at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday near Etang de la Piede, according to a post on X by a friend of one of Tom’s daughters.

But that theory has now been disproven, with his family and search and rescue crews now believing it was someone else’s doing.

More than 60 hours have passed since Tom Doherty sent his last message to his family saying he had “fallen and can’t move.”

The emergency search and rescue operation has been going on for more than two days, with rescuers deploying helicopters, search dogs and Doherty’s family.

But as of this morning there has been no news, as family members and authorities continue to search for the 67-year-old retired doctor.

Click here to read the full report:

A screenshot of a message Mr Doherty sent to his family when he went missing has surfaced.

“Help,” he said at 7:07 p.m. Tuesday.

“I fell down and couldn’t move,” he added, before his worried family members told each other they were trying to help him.

Here is the full conversation:

A 67-year-old British doctor has been missing for three days while hiking in France after he messaged his family to say he had fallen.

Tom Doherty’s family lost contact with him while he was hiking and camping near the Col de l’Escos in the French Pyrenees on Tuesday.

Police helicopters and search dogs were deployed to lead the search, and two of Mr Doherty’s family members – his wife and one of his daughters – had travelled to the area to assist.