For hours, divers and rescue workers searched frantically for him, thinking he had drowned. But the man sat comfortably on the sofa in his house and watched TV. A 72-year-old from Antwerp, Belgium, had traveled to Ostend, a seaside resort in the nation, to cool off during the heatwave that was sweeping the country along with the rest of Europe. He went swimming in the North Sea last Monday afternoon after asking someone to look after his belongings. But when he got out of the water, he didn’t see the person in charge of his personal belongings, who also disappeared, so he thought it was a theft.
In reality, the elder had been moved by the current and had not returned to the same spot on the beach. He then decided, without complaining, to go home and was taken back to his home in Antwerp by some passers-by. But in the meantime, the person who took care of her belongings stayed on the beach, and after a while she worried about not seeing the 70-year-old again.
Searching for his belongings, he found his phone and informed his daughter of his disappearance, who in turn informed the police. Emergency proceedings were initiated immediately and the search services rushed to the crime scene. Only an hour later, the police finally learned that the man was sitting peacefully in the armchair of his apartment.
“He thought his personal belongings had been stolen,” said Timmy Van Assche, spokesman for the Ostend police. “He should have informed us directly. And the person who stored the items should have called emergency services first. This would have prevented us from activating the emergency procedure,” he concluded.