A BRITISH football fan reported missing while heading to the US for the World Cup has been found in Barcelona – and had no idea people were looking for him.
Leeds United fan Michael Hewitt, 65, had lost his mobile phone during a stopover in Barcelona while en route to Boston for the England-Ghana fixture on June 23, The Sun reported.
His family had sparked a frantic 10-day international search after losing contact with him – but with no access to internet or his phonebook, ‘Little Mick’ was oblivious to it all.
READ MORE: MISSING: Mystery as England fan vanishes on way to World Cup during Barcelona layover
His brother Gary, 56, told The Sun: “He lost his phone soon after arriving in Barcelona and didn’t know any of the phone numbers stored on it.
“He never thought to contact the Embassy because he still had his passport and money, so he didn’t think they’d be able to help.
“Instead, he just carried on enjoying Barcelona. Without internet access, he had absolutely no idea people were desperately searching for him.”
Michael’s last known whereabouts had been traced to a Barcelona bar, where he had been posting photos on Facebook before all contact suddenly stopped.
As concern grew, his family reported him missing, prompting an investigation by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Interpol was also alerted, while relatives appealed to football fans and Barcelona residents to help find him.
The breakthrough finally came after the British Embassy in Spain traced his hotel using card payment records.
Embassy staff found Michael at the hotel and reunited him with his family by phone on Thursday morning.
A retired trade union official, Michael has followed Leeds United since the 1960s and is well known for travelling abroad to support both his club and England.
His relieved family said they could not have hoped for a happier ending.
In a Facebook statement, they said: “As a family, we desperately wanted an embarrassingly simple but happy ending to this horrendous episode — and thankfully, that’s exactly what we’ve got.”
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