A British soccer fan on the way to the U.S.A. for the World Cup, whose family reported him missing, was found happily bending his elbow in a pub in Spain, completely unaware that he was reported missing.
Michael “Little Mick” Hewitt, 65, left the UK on June 21 and last called his family from Barcelona as he was headed to the U.S. for the big games. But then, as far as his family was concerned, he vanished because there was no further communication from the traveling fan.
He was supposed to have ended up in Boston to watch the Brits play Ghana on June 24, but his family had no idea whether he ever got to the U.S.A.
The family quickly reported him missing, and, along with Interpol, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office launched a search for the missing fan. Soon enough, they tracked down his credit card and ATM withdrawals in the Barcelona area and found him safe and sound, if a bit bewildered by all the hubbub.
Hewitt explained that he lost his phone, which contained all his plane ticket information, and he was unable to recall anyone’s phone number to call them and tell his family about his predicament. But since he had his passport and money, he decided to just stay in Barcelona and watch the World Cup on the TVs in the city’s pubs.
The errant fan’s brother, Gary, told the Irish Sun, “He didn’t think to go to the Embassy as he still had his passport and money, so didn’t think they’d be interested. Instead, he just got on with enjoying Barcelona, watching the England matches in the bars.”
“Without any internet access, he had no idea that people were worrying about him, and there was no sign of the search in Barcelona itself,” Gary said.
“As a family, we desperately wanted an embarrassingly simple but happy ending to this horrendous episode, and we now have that,” the “missing” man’s brother added.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston