Eerie last sighting of missing tourist, 28, shows him ‘running for his life’ before vanishing in Bulgarian woods on hols
THIS is the chilling footage of a tourist’s last moments as he was seen sprinting out of an airport and dumping his belongings before vanishing.
Lars Mittank from Berlin, Germany has been missing for over a decade after he was last seen fearing for his life while on holiday in Bulgaria in July 2014.
The then 28-year-old was last seen in spine-chilling footage from Varna Airport where he was due to fly home.
The German tourist was on his first holiday abroad and CCTV footage showed him calmly walking around the airport in a bright yellow t-shirt at the end of the trip.
But moments later he was shouting about dying and ran in the opposite direction out of the airport never to be knowingly seen again.
“I don’t want to die here! I have to get out of here,” he reportedly told airport doctor Dr Kosta Kostov after he was told he was fit to fly, per the Daily Mail.
These are believed to have been his last words with Kostov describing his patient as “nervous and erratic.”
Moments later, Lars was seen sprinting out of the airport in a panic, with fellow travellers looking on in shock.
He ran out of the building and across the car park before climbing a two-metre fence.
In his panic, he left behind his bag and phone and landed in a field near the National Highway A2 where he continued running until he disappeared.
All that is known about his time in Bulgaria is that he got into a fight with football fans at a McDonald’s which saw him suffer a perforated eardrum and possible concussion.
His friends said at the time that he had started taking strong medication before his flight home after visiting a local doctor.
They had all been staying at the Viva Club Hotel in the Golden Sands resort for their week-long trip away.
Due to his injury, Lars’ friends were able to return home on July 7 while he had to wait due to the cabin pressure changes which would have hurt his eardrum.
After his friends left, Lars checked into the Hotel Color in Varna to recover before flying home.
This is where there was another bizarre twist in the case.
The 28-year-old frantically called his mother, Sandra, in a blind panic claiming he was being followed by four men who were trying to kill him.
He instructed Sandra to cancel his bank cards as he believed the details had been copied over when he checked into the hotel.
She told a German news outlet: “I thought, God, my son is in danger.
“I could hear his heart pounding over the phone. He said people were trying to rob or kill him.”
Lars would only speak to his mother in whispers, telling her that he did not feel safe and that the hotel was “strange.”
In a text, he asked his mother questions about the medication he had been given for his injuries.
Hotel CCTV reportedly shows him pacing up and down in the hotel foyer hiding in a lift and watching out of windows.
But, no other people were seen acting strangely or following the tourist.
Lars’ erratic and bizarre behaviour saw rumours fly about mental illness and drug abuse but he had no history of either according to family and friends.
I don’t want to die here! I have to get out of here.
Lars Mittank
The night before he went missing, he reportedly left the hotel at 1 am where he went to an unknown location for about an hour before he returned.
The following day on July 8, Sandra received a text from her son saying he was at the airport and was going to try and return home.
She bought him a bus ticket and sent 500 Euros which he never withdrew but he was seen arriving at Varna Airport by taxi where he then saw the doctor and vanished.
Dr Kostov claimed that Lars had been doubtful about the medication he had been given and when it was suggested he had a psychotic reaction to his medication, Kostov said this was not possible.
Lars had reportedly never filled his prescription.
With no conclusion from the police investigation into his disappearance, online sleuths have been digging into the case, focusing largely on his final moments caught on CCTV.
Lars’ mother continues to hold out hope that new information will be found regarding what happened to her son.