Lars Mittank: Mystery of missing tourist who disappeared in 2014

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Lars Mittank, 28, went missing outside Varna Airport, Bulgaria back in 2014
The clip saw Mittank labelled 'the most famous missing person on YouTube'
A series of wild conspiracy theories have circulated online because of the clip

Published: 08:03 EDT, 11 May 2018 | Updated: 09:02 EDT, 11 May 2018

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These are the terrifying last moments of a tourist who went missing in Bulgaria after sprinting from an airport building and vanishing into a nearby forest.

German Lars Mittank, 28, has been missing since he disappeared outside Varna airport in Bulgaria back in July 2014.

Remarkable CCTV footage of Mittank's last sighting shows the holidaymaker casually walking through the airport - before suddenly starting to sprint.

He is caught on camera desperately trying to flee from something and makes his way out through the terminal building and into the car park.

Mittank can be seen getting further and further away from the terminal and eventually leaps a barrier into the forest beyond.

Footage taken from a CCTV camera in Varna Airport shows Mittank strolling through the terminal with his bags

But he soon becomes spooked by something and drops his bags containing his passport and runs out of the building

He has not been seen again since then and left behind a rucksack and suitcase containing his wallet, passport and phone in his haste.

Police have been left completely baffled by his disappearance and members of the YouTube and Reddit community have weighed in to try and solve the mystery - but to no avail.

Mittank is now described as the 'Most famous missing person on YouTube' after the video of his disappearance has been watched more than 16 million times.

His Bulgarian holiday had been relatively uneventful until a few days before he was due to leave.

He had flown with friends to the seaside resort of Golden Sands - but near the end of their trip was injured in a fight in McDonald's, leaving him with a perforated eardrum and possible concussion.

After going to a local doctor, he was given a course of antibiotics called Cefuroxime 500 and forced to stay behind when his friends flew home because the air pressure changes on board the plane would have hurt his ear.

He can be seen sprinting at full speed as though he is trying to escape someone chasing him

Mittank had been on holiday with a group of German friends in a seaside resort in Bulgaria

Having waved off his friends at Varna Airport, he checked into a nearby hotel - where things started to unravel for the tourist.

Lars made a terrifying, panicked phone call to his mum from his hotel room ordering her to cancel his bank cards and suggested he was being followed by people trying to kill him.

Sandra Mittank told German TV: 'I thought, god, my son is in danger. I could hear his heart pounding over the phone. He said people were trying to rob him or kill him.'

He also sent his mum a text asking about the antibiotics he had been prescribed.

CCTV reportedly showed him pacing up and down the hotel foyer, looking out the windows and hiding in a lift.

It is believed Lars left the hotel at 1am before returning. It is not known where he went in the meantime.

The next morning, his mum's fears were eased when he texted her to say he had made it to the airport terminal.

He started acting strangely after being punched in a McDonald's brawl and perforating and eardrum - an incident which left him needing antibiotics

Mittank was separated from friends after being banned from flying because of his ear and stayed behind alone

Lars needed the all-clear to fly from an airport doctor, who reportedly described him as 'nervous and erratic', as well as mistrustful of the medicine he had been prescribed.

The medic, Dr Kosta Kostov, has been quoted saying Lars began to tremble when a construction worker entered the room and cried: 'I don't want to die here. I have to get out of here.'

At this point Lars reportedly leapt to his feet and fled the airport.

Police turned up no concrete leads and a private investigator hired by his family failed to find any trace of Lars.

It has never been established what triggered his paranoia - drugs, a reaction to his medication, a head injury from the fight, an undiagnosed mental health condition or a genuine threat from unknown attackers.

One ray of hope for Lars' family came in December 2016 when police in Brazil tweeted a photo of a bearded, scruffily dressed man they found wandering barefoot along a highway.

But he was later identified as a missing Canadian aid worker.

His fate is unknown. Dark conspiracy theories circulate online about what became of Lars in Bulgaria - a country with high levels of human trafficking and organised crime.