Good NewsRomanian tourist lost on the London Underground found three days later
Romanian tourist Vasile Belea, 63, was travelling on the London Underground with his son last Tuesday morning when the pair were separated. Belea's son managed to get on a train at Stockwell underground station, but the doors closed before Belea could join him.
Belea, who was due to return to Romania at the end of the month, was missing for days.
His family feared for him, as he speaks very little English, had an iPhone without a SIM card, had just a few dollars on him, and was without his arthritis medication.
They contacted the Metro with the story, hoping that if anyone recognized Belea from a photo in the newspaper, they would call the police.
Someone did: Belea.
When he saw his own photo in the Metro, he wandered into Acton Police Station. He was reunited with his family more than almost four full days after he got lost.
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"He has been reunited with his family," a Met Police spokesman said on Saturday. "We would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance in publicizing this appeal."
"He had lost a lot of weight and he was tired, he was not in a very good way. He didn't look good. It was very emotional. We thought he was dead," his daughter-in-law, Olimpia Belea, told the Evening Standard.
Belea told his family that he approached police shortly after he got separated from his son, but they didn't understand him.
"Everyone he met was very kind to him but they didn’t realize he was a missing person," Olimpia told MailOnline.
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Belea, who Olimpia called "resourceful," survived on just £17 ($30 CAD). He still had £3 in his pocket when he was reunited with his family.
"He stayed in shops where it was warm during the day and the second day he found a betting shop and they let him stay on an armchair until they closed at 10pm," she said. "During the night, he walked to stay awake and he moved between bus shelters. He is an extraordinary person."
On the third evening, Belea stayed at an Indian restaurant.
"He bought milk and sandwiches, being very careful with his money," Olimpia told the Evening Standard. "On the last evening at an Indian restaurant he was given five sandwiches. He was so thrifty with his resources that he didn't eat them all, and when we finally found him he still had two left that we ate together."
Belea credits his survival to the kindness of strangers.
"People helped him", Olimpia told MailOnline. "He said, 'I love London — everyone is very kind.'"
