Algerian found alive after 26 years in neighbor’s cellar

A man was found living in his neighbor’s basement after going missing about 26 years ago.

Omar bin Omran disappeared from Djelfa, Algeria, during the Algerian civil war in the 1990s, when he was in his late teens.

Now aged 45, Mr Bin Omran was discovered just 200 meters from where he grew up.

Authorities confirmed they had arrested a 61-year-old man on suspicion of keeping him prisoner.

Mr. Bin Omran’s disappearance came amid a decade-long conflict between the Algerian government and Islamist groups.

His family feared he was one of an estimated 200,000 people killed, and up to 20,000 kidnapped, during the unrest.

But he was found hiding in a sheepfold, under haystacks, on May 12, according to some reports.

The prosecution received a complaint against an anonymous person claiming that Mr. Bin Omran was in the house of one of his neighbors, inside a sheepfold, said a court official.

The magistrate declared: “Following this report, the attorney general ordered the national gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation and the agents went to the house in question.

“On May 12 at 8 p.m. local time, (they) found the victim Omar bin Omran, aged 45, in the cellar of his neighbor BA, aged 61.”

The suspect allegedly tried to flee the scene, but was overpowered and arrested, the court official said.

The ministry said the investigation was still ongoing and Mr. Bin Omran was receiving medical and psychological treatment.

A spokesperson called the crime “heinous.”

Mr. Bin Omran told his rescuers that he had occasionally seen his family from prison, but claimed he had been unable to call for help “because of a spell his captor had cast on him », reported local media.