Dubai: Alert Gulf News readers helped reunite a mentally-challenged man with his family after they spotted him sitting on a public bench in the pouring rain.
Adeel Afzal, 30, a schizophrenic, went missing since the New Year’s Eve celebrations after the family let him out of the car to take a short washroom break in Mamzar District.
Suresh Balan saw him sitting on the bench at Bani Yas Square Park at 10am yesterday and wondered what he was doing in the rain. When he reached his office and glanced through Gulf News, his eyes fell on the report about the missing man.
“I went back and spoke to him, but he did not reply,” said Balan, who said it is good news that Afzal is back with his family.
Gulf News had reported what Afzal was wearing and his description.
Afzal Haq, the distraught father, rushed to downtown Dubai from Sharjah with his two other sons, when he was given the happy news. “He must have walked all this way (from Mamzar to Bani Yas Square),” he said, hugging the reporter.
“I am very grateful to Gulf News and those who found him and supported him,” he said.
Afzal sat in his father’s car shivering from the cold with a bag of French fries in his hand.
