The Man Who Ran: Lars Mittank and the Fence at Varna Airport
At about nine in the morning on 8 July 2014, a young German man walked into the small medical office at Varna Airport on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. He had a rucksack on his shoulder and a ruptured eardrum that had already cost him one seat on a plane. The airport doctor, Kosta Kostov, later described the visitor as nervous and erratic, sweating and difficult to follow. Then a workman in overalls opened the door. The young man began to shake. "I don't want to die here," he said. "I have to get out of here." He left his bag on the floor and ran.
A few dozen seconds of grainy security video are all that survive of what happened next. The man in it was Lars Mittank, and nobody has confirmed seeing him since.
Sign up and get your first month completely free — unlimited access to the entire archive, ad-free for subscribers. Cancel anytime.
Subscribe — first month free