La Sagrada familia in Barcelona, Spain (Image: Getty)
A British tourist has vanished after failing to board his return flight home from Barcelona, Spain.
Friends say Daniel Thomas, 51, was last spotted on Saturday at lunchtime after reportedly having his belongings “stolen”. Friend Alix Harvey issued an urgent plea for information regarding his whereabouts on social media, confirming that both UK and Spanish police had been notified and the British consulate alerted: “PLEASE HELP!”
“Missing in Barcelona. Daniel Thomas, 51. White, British, Male. Was on holiday in Barcelona from Tuesday 14th April and was due back on Saturday 18th April but missed his flight home. Last contact from him was through a BCN airport worker’s instagram to say he’d lost/had stolen his passport, phone and all money and cards but nobody has seen or heard from him since lunchtime on Saturday 18th April.”
“UK and Spanish Police aware, as are the British Consulate. Please contact them with any information if you recognise or have seen him. He doesn’t speak Spanish and needs to get to a police station or the British Consulate so arrangements can be made to get him home.”
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Mr Thomas is the most recent tourist reported missing from Spain.
Earlier this month, the anxious family of British tourist Paul Daniel Strange, 70, made a desperate appeal for him to make contact after he disappeared on the very day he was due to begin the lengthy drive back in his van from the fishing and tourist town of Palomares in Almeria to his home in Essex. The retired builder and locksmith, from Leigh-on-Sea, had been staying at a friend’s apartment.
Father-of-three Paul turned up safe and well within hours of his family going public with an appeal for help, but not before his son and son-in-law had already flown out to Spain to search for him.
On February 11, British holidaymaker Iain Stanley, 79, disappeared in Nerja on the eastern Costa del Sol after leaving an apartment near the town’s Perla Marina hotel. He was discovered dead following a week-long police search of the surrounding area.
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Last month, a British holidaymaker known only by his first name, Michael, went missing in Tenerife just hours after arriving on the island with his wife and heading out for an early-morning stroll. His disappearance was duly reported to the authorities, and he too was located within hours.
On February 6, Susan Hornsby, 76, from Dorset, vanished during a holiday in Tenerife with her husband Peter. An urgent appeal was launched, and she was airlifted to hospital after being dramatically discovered in a ravine nearly 30 hours after she went missing during a three-hour hike.
Louise Bakewell, who had spearheaded the appeal, afterwards expressed her gratitude to well-wishers: “Thank you so much for all your help and advice. What a wonderful group of people.
“Just to clarify- she went off on a walk alone and then became unwell. She did not have find my iPhone enabled on her phone- please tell your friends and relatives to always enable this if they can, just to be safe.”
