Spanish man Santiago Sánchez, who started his walking journey from Madrid to Doha to attend FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, mysteriously disappeared after entering the Iranian territories, his family said Monday.
The 41-year-old soccer fan was trekking his way from Spain to Qatar before disappearing three weeks ago in Iran. His family expressed its worry about his fate amid the unstable situation in Iran and the mass anti-government protests.
21 days on, no whereabouts of Spanish national #Santiago_Sánchez who started walking from Madrid to Doha to attend Qatar WC2022. His last seen was on Kurdistan Region and Iran border on 2 October and his last post on instgrm was on 1 October posing photos with Kurdish villagers. pic.twitter.com/0G9JTomdkd
— Rekar Aziz (@Rekar_Azeez) October 23, 2022
Santiago Sánchez's last post on Instagram, which was shared on October 1st, was from his last moments in northern Iraq near Penjwen and Pashmakh regions. He shared photos with local people saying that families there were very hosts and welcomed him at their house for dinner.
"Tears of emotion walking fast I arrive at the mountain where I already see Iran," the Spanish man's last post reads.
The Spanish man hiked through 15 countries, including Turkey, Bulgaria and Albania, before being reported missing in Iran shortly after crossing the border. The Iranian authorities haven't commented on his disappearance.
Fears grow about the soccer fan's fate in Iran as the country has been facing an uprising since September 17th following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, during her arrest by the country's morality police for wearing the hijab 'improperly'.
