RIYADH: A man who left his home in Saudi Arabia 39 years ago, met with an accident, lost his memory and disappeared has been found in Pakistan, a Saudi newspaper reported on Friday.

The man left his home in the central Saudi town of Buraydah in 1975 to look for work. He told his mother he was heading for the northern Saudi city of Arar, near the border with Iraq. But he suffered an accident and lost his memory.

According to the newspaper, he then crossed the border into Iraq and from there he sneaked into neighbouring Iran. Eventually he ended up in Pakistan, but was jailed for a year.

Authorities in Pakistan later released the man after concluding that there were no grounds for keeping him in jail. After his release, an old philanthropic woman gave him refuge.

The man was 31 years old when he was taken into the refuge. He lived there for a long but unspecified time, along with other poor people.

The daily said the woman tried to contact the Saudi consulate in Karachi after she noticed that the man spoke with a Saudi accent. “He tried to convince the Pakistani woman that he was from Saudi Arabia, but that he cannot remember the place of his origin,” the paper said, quoting sources in the consulate.

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

“I recently remembered that story and decided to send a man I know to that home. The man kept telling him that he was from Saudi Arabia. And, as if in a moment of self-discovery, he suddenly recalled that his place of birth was Buraydah.”

The newspaper quoted the official as saying the Saudi authorities had decided to identify the man and then bring him to Saudi Arabia. He is now nearly 70.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2014