Last week, international media outlets picked up the mysterious case of a Lebanese man, Nizam Hussein Shalak, who had been stuck at three different airports for over two months.
According to the Daily Mail, in total, Shalak had already spent 10 days in Barcelona (Spain), 11 days in Lima (Peru), and another 45 days in Guayaquil (Ecuador) before allegedly losing his passport and credit credits.
Subsequently, due to the loss of his travel documents, he ended up spending almost two months at the departure lounge of Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International Airport located in Guayaquil.
Shalak was on vacation in Ecuador - a country that doesn't require a visa from holders of the Lebanese passport - and made his way from there to Spain as a layover before heading back to Beirut.
Arriving at Barcelona's airport, he realized his passport was missing and was sent back to Ecuador for not having any identification documents.
According to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, Lebanon's diplomatic mission in Colombia gathered his information from the airline he initially boarded and was able to issue Shalak a new passport.
On Saturday, the 56-year-old finally made his way back home.
While it has been reported that the Lebanese man deliberately disposed of his passport in an attempt to seek asylum in Spain, he denied the false accusations.
"Why would I tear my passport apart? It's [my] address," Shalak told Al Jadeed.
"I only asked for asylum after I realized my passport was missing in Peru and Ecuador," he added.
The 56-year-old claimed he avoided asking for help from family and friends because he didn't want to "bother anyone".
He also says that he contacted the Lebanese consulate in Bogota as soon as he realized that his documents were missing, but they were unresponsive.
"Three weeks ago, the Lebanese ambassador in Bogota became aware of the matter and [initiated efforts] to grant the man a laissez-passer, but they needed his ID card,” said an unnamed Lebanese Foreign Ministry source, according to The Daily Star.
The source also claimed that Shalak was the one not responsive at first, but later sent copies of his passport and ID through a friend.
At the airport, Shalak was granted food stamps for meals and taken to bathrooms for showers.
He finally landed in Beirut on Saturday, June 16.