Saudi missing for 39 years found in Pakistan

A Saudi man who left his home in Saudi Arabia and disappeared for nearly 39 years has been found in Pakistan, a newspaper in the Gulf kingdom reported on Friday.

The man left his home in the central town of Buraydah in 1975 to look for a job and told his mother he was heading for the northern Saudi city of Arar near the border with Iraq but had an accident and lost his memory.

He then crossed the border into Iraq and sneaked into neighbouring Iran before ending up in Pakistan, where he was jailed for nearly a year.

Authorities then released the man after deciding that there was no use to keep him jail. After his release, an old charitable woman gave him refuge.

The man was around 31 years old when he lived in that home along with other poor people looked after by the Pakistani woman.

The Saudi Arabia language daily said the woman tried to contact the Saudi embassy in Karachi after she noticed that the man had a Saudi accent.

“He was telling the woman that he was from Saudi Arabia but that he cannot remember where exactly from,” the paper said, quoting Saudi embassy sources.

It quoted an unnamed embassy official as saying that he was told about that man nearly six years ago but did not follow up the information.

“I recently remembered that story and decided to send a man I know to that home…he met that man who kept telling him that he was from Saudi Arabia and that he has just remembered his birthplace in Buraydah.”

The paper quoted the official as saying authorities are now taking measures to identify that man and bring him back home as he is now nearly 70.

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