In a shocking incident, that went viral online a man who was missing for 26 years as a teenager has been found alive in his neighbour’s cellar.
Named as Omar Bin Omran (or Imran) is alleged to have disappeared in the city of Djelfa in Algeria 27 years ago.
His family had presumed he was killed during the civil war between various Islamist rebel groups and the Algerian government and that lasted for 10 years in the 1990s and early 2000s.
A 61-year-old is now in police custody after Omar, now 45, was rescued on May 12.
The viral video shows torchlights shining into a pit surrounded by hay as Omar furtively looks up, seemingly in shock at the search party surrounding him, stray pieces of straw in his hair.
Other images have since been circulated of the bearded man emerging from the hole, thought to be a sheep pen, and of him as a teenager, sitting with a dog and with young children before he disappeared.
According to Algerian newspaper El Khabar, the then-19-year-old vanished into thin air after leaving home to head to vocational school.
Tragically, Omar’s mother died in 2013 without ever knowing the truth of what happened to her son. Reports suggest Omar was made aware of his mother’s death whilst in captivity.
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