A Spanish man walking from Madrid to Doha, Qatar, for the 2022 World Cup has not been heard from since the day after he crossed over to Iran three weeks ago, his family said on Monday.
Santiago Sanchez, a seasoned backpacker, former skydiver and avid soccer fan, was last seen in Iraq after walking through 15 countries and sharing his journey extensively. on a popular Instagram account for the past nine months.
Earlier, the 41-year-old said his intention for the trip to Qatar was to learn about the lives of others before arriving in the host country of the first World Cup in the Arab world, before the first match. of Spain on November 23.
“The idea of the journey is to motivate and inspire others to show that they can go very far with very little expense,” he told the AP from Sulaymaniyah, a Kurdish city in northeastern Iraq. fee.
However, Sanchez’s family was last heard from him in an audio message on October 2, a day after he crossed the Iraq-Iran border. He was due to go to the Iranian capital Tehran, where a television station wanted to interview him. His next step will be Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran, where he will travel by boat to Qatar.
“We were so worried, we couldn’t stop crying, my husband and I,” his mother, Celia Cogedor, told the Associated Press.
Sanchez’s parents reported him missing on October 17, and they say Spanish police and diplomats are helping the family.
“After a couple of days, we weren’t worried about him not posting; it matched what he said. But after eight or nine days, my daughter and his best friends… We’re starting to think we have to report disappearing,” his mother said.
Spain’s foreign ministry said it had no information on Sanchez’s whereabouts, adding that Spain’s ambassador to Tehran was handling the matter. Calls to the Iranian Foreign Ministry seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Sanchez previously spent time in Iran in 2019, when he cycled a similar route from Madrid to Saudi Arabia.
“He does not propagate, is not for or against any situation,” his parents added. “The only thing that touched him was supporting Real Madrid – and walking to make it to the World Cup in Qatar.”
