Omar Bin Omran, who disappeared at the age of 17 in the city of Djelfa, Algeria, was found this week in a hole after being held by his neighbor for 27 years in a house less than 200 meters from his home.
Algerian civil war. Omar, the oldest of the new brothers, disappeared in 1996 during the Algerian civil war, for this reason, his family always thought that he had been another victim of the conflict. However, the reality was very different: the young man was much closer than they could imagine.
Rescued from a corral. On May 12, 2024, authorities rescued Omar, now 45, from a hay-covered sheep pen at the home of his alleged captor, a 61-year-old man who is now in police custody.
Images of the liberation. The rescue was captured on video and widely disseminated on social networks and Algerian media, showing Omar visibly in shock and emerging from his confinement with traces of straw in his hair.
Revelation of whereabouts. The young man disappeared while on his way to school in 1996, and was searched without success until an inheritance dispute led the captor’s brother to reveal his whereabouts on social networks, which motivated Omar’s family to raid the house and find him. . But not only that, according to the local newspaper El Khabar, the family dog, which used to sniff around the place where Omar was being held, was poisoned to prevent it from tracking him.
Family reunited. Unfortunately, Omar’s mother died in 2013 without knowing the truth about the whereabouts of her son, but despite the absence of her mother, the rest of the family has been able to reunite again. This was stated by a cousin who expressed on Facebook: “Thank God, my cousin was found. Bin Imran Omar is in good health after 27 years of disappearance. “We await details of the case and investigations.”
Long case. After the rescue of Omar, which could be one of the longest kidnapping cases in the world, the authorities have assured that the person responsible will be judged severely, and Omar, who now faces a long recovery process, will be treated both medically and psychologically to help him overcome the years of captivity.