Footage captures moment man missing for 27 years was found in neighbor’s basement minutes from home – News

Footage captured at a property in Algeria shows the moment a man missing for 27 years was found minutes from his family home.

Omar Bin Omran disappeared in 1997, on his way to vocational school when he was just 17 years old.

His disappearance took place in the middle of the Algerian civil war, leading Omran’s family to believe that he had been kidnapped or killed. But for nearly three decades, the family had no idea what had happened to their son.

Omran’s mother hoped to see him again, but sadly she died in 2013.

It would be another ten years before Omran was finally found, with authorities learning that he did indeed appear to have been kidnapped.

Its discovery came after the brother of Omran’s accused kidnapper, who allegedly worked as a civil servant, suggested he may have been involved in the kidnapping in a social media post amid a fight for legacy.

The allegation prompted authorities to re-examine Omran’s disappearance, leading the Algerian National Gendarmerie to search the home of the man mentioned in the social media post.

The man lived just 300 feet from Omran’s family’s residence, and at his home, authorities discovered a trapdoor hidden under some hay.

Footage shared on X and also broadcast on Algerian television channels in May this year shows the moment the hatch opened to reveal Omran inside.

In the clip, Omran, then sporting a beard, can be seen gazing into the glow of a torch from what appears to be the hole in the ground, surrounded by hay. Later scenes showed flashing lights as authorities continued the investigation.

Now aged 45, Omran was found in the space beneath the floor of what is believed to be some sort of sheep enclosure.

A judicial official explained: “Following this report, the public prosecutor at the Idrisiya court in the province of Djelfa ordered the National Gendarmerie to open a thorough investigation and the agents went to the house in question. “

“The public prosecutor’s office ordered that the victim receive medical and psychological treatment, and the suspect will be presented to the public prosecutor’s office immediately after the investigation is completed,” the official added.

Following his discovery, the 61-year-old man accused of holding Omran captive attempted to flee, but was eventually caught and remanded in custody.

Meanwhile, Omran was taken to a medical center to receive physical and psychological treatment.

According to an article in the Elkhabar newspaper, Omran said he was used to seeing his family members from a window in the cellar where he was detained, but that he could not call because it was “as if there was a constraining force within me that prevented me from doing so.