A Saudi man who went missing 15 years ago in Nicaragua and considered dead is poised to make a joyous return to his family in Riyadh.

Talal Al-Harbi was discovered working as a porter in the Central American country by a group of Saudi scholarship students who had visited the country from the United States.

“We talked to Talal about 15 years ago and tried to get him back into the Kingdom. We arranged all the necessary documents, but he disappeared suddenly. We lost all contact with him after he was involved in a traffic accident,” his brother said.

He said the Nicaraguan government had told the Saudi authorities that Talal was not in the country. “We had given him up for dead, and then suddenly we get this happy news of his well-being,” his brother said.

A Syrian expatriate reportedly told the scholarship students visiting the country that a Saudi was working as a porter and needed help because he was laboring under tough conditions for a Palestinian.

When some of the students went to meet Talal, they found him exhausted and in a poor state. When they told him they were Saudis, he said he wanted to go home.

Talal then revealed that he had married a Muslim Nicaraguan woman and had two children.

He said he suffered from financial difficulties and anxiety, and that he had been looking for his family for many years after losing touch with them. “I was young and liked to travel from one country to another. The last country was Nicaragua, where I decided to stay. My identification documents expired. I wanted to go back to Saudi Arabia but couldn’t, so I stayed, got married and had two children,” he said.

“My son is 12 years old and my daughter 11. I live without an identity. I tried to look for my family but their telephone numbers have changed. I want to go back home with my children. I work as a porter here earning SR300,” he said.

“There is no Saudi embassy here, so I tried to communicate with our embassy in Mexico, but they did not show any interest in my situation. I don’t know anything about my family except that they used to live next to Al-Dakheel mosque in Riyadh,” he said.

The break came when an online newspaper published the heart-wrenching story. This led to his relatives calling the publication to say they were his long lost kin.

The newspaper called Talal, who said he wanted to see his mother. “I have no official identification documents. All I have is my expired national ID, a photocopy of my passport and a boarding pass,” he said.

Talal confirmed talking to his mother and brother and said procedures were underway to bring him back to the Kingdom.

The grateful family thanked the newspaper for helping them find Talal.