The family got a mysterious phone before police tracked him down to Thailand's island of Ko Phi Phi. (iStock)
Missing British man Jordan Jacobs has been found after disappearing in Thailand almost a week ago--sparking a search by police and a frantic appeal for help on social media from his family.
“Jordan Jacobs has been located by local authorities in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand, and is safe and well,” a spokesman for the U.K.’s Foreign Office said.
“Our embassy staff have spoken with him to check on his welfare and we will remain in contact with his family to provide any further assistance required.”
Police in Ko Phi Phi found Jacobs walking on a beach looking for a diving center either to apply for a job or do a course.
"We took him to the police station and contacted the embassy and explained everything. He is fine and healthy," said a police spokesman.
Jacobs has since posted on his Facebook page: "I'm fine my parents are just over reacting because I said I'm not coming home... and haven't had Internet for a long time stop worrying."
The 21-year-old has been backpacking around Asia since Sept. 2014. He was expected to return home for Christmas however a “free ride” from a local man seems to have landed him in trouble.
On Facebook, the family of the young man sporting a beard and tattoos wrote that his disappearance was out of character. Of most concern was a phone call they received six days ago.
“Have you seen Jordan Jacobs within the last 48 hours? Becoming increasingly concerned about his safety,” Jordan’s sister Emily wrote on Facebook on December 14.
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The next day she posted another call for help as well as information about where her brother was last seen and what happened when he reached out to his family.
“Last known location was Saturday at PP restaurant. The owner of the restaurant confirmed he was there.
“We know he left Pak Up hostel (in Krabi) to head to Koh Phi Phi Don leaving behind his other backpacker friends. He left with a local man that he met at the laundrette near to the hostel. The man offered to take him to the island for free. That evening (Thai local time) was when he called my parents. He was upset.”
She said her parents hadn’t heard from him since.
Emily told MailOnline the pair’s mother received a message on Saturday morning which “basically said he can never see us again, that he is sorry he can’t see us one last time, that he loved us etc.”
She later urged him to call her and the pair spoke briefly.
“I was on the phone for 90 seconds. He couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me where he was,” Debbie Jacobs said.
“He said: ‘I’ve said too much. I can’t talk. I love you.’ And that was it. We’ve had no contact since.”
The number Jordan called from reportedly belonged to a Cypriot tourist, who later told the family Jordan approached him at a restaurant on Ko Phi Phi Don.
Hundreds of tourists go missing in Thailand each year. A missing persons website declares: “Unfortunately, people do go missing in Thailand on a regular basis.”
“More often than not, they have simply neglected to stay in touch because they are having too much of a good time and are unaware that loved ones back home are worried about them, and they will almost always turn up somewhere eventually, unharmed,” the website reads.
Emily said she hoped that was the case with her brother, and that she would see him home for Christmas.
“We want to have him home safe.”
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