What really happened to Lars Mittank?

Lars Mittank was 28 years old when he went missing from Varna Airport in Bulgaria in the summer of 2014.

He was  a worker at the Wilhelmshaven Power Station in a small coastal town in lower Saxony, in northwest Germany and was on vacation when in a seemingly paranoid state, he disappeared without a trace.

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Mittank was on vacation with four friends at Golden sands, a sea side resort on the coast of the black sea in Bulgaria, a popular and relatively low cost holiday destination for those in nearby European countries who want to take a break and soak up the sun.  They arrived at their destination on the 30^th of June 2014, after a 2 hour plane ride, and checked into their hotel (Hotel "Viva Club"), which was all inclusive, with food and drinks provided.   The place is described as a sort of party resort popular amongst Germans- think Ibiza.

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On July 6^th the trip was disturbed by an altercation between the group of German tourists and a group of locals when they had a dispute over football at a local bar named “the rock bar”.

Although there was no violence inside the bar at the time Lars went missing later that night when he was waiting for his friends to purchase food from a nearby McDonald’s fast food restaurant on the way back to the hotel. 

They looked for him to no avail, and eventually decided to go back to the hotel expecting him to be there. Unfortunately he was not, but he returned the next morning claiming to have been accosted by a group of men that he believed were sent for him by the group they had an altercation with earlier in the night. He claimed that the group had hired a bunch ofeither locals or Russians to rough him up.

Apparently his friends weren’t convinced by the story, but let it go.

He had walked away from the beating with a ruptured ear drum and injured jaw.  

Where exactly was Lars Mittank between waiting outside of McDonalds for his friends to order and returning to the hotel in the morning?

Was he unconscious? If so for how long?

Now I’ve read conflicting reports on the severity of the ear injury. Some reports say that he was actually good to fly, but didn’t want to.

Other reports state that the ruptured ear drum was an injury that wouldn’t allow him to fly back to Germany on schedule with his friends.

Although they wanted to stay with him until he was fit to fly, Lars Mittank insisted that he was fine and would find a hotel to stay at until he was well enough to return home.

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On July 7th his friends left the hotel in one taxi, and he left in another in search of medical attention. After refusing surgery (he did not want to get surgery outside of Germany), which the local doctor insisted Mittank needed, he was instead prescribed 500mg of  Cefuroxime / “cefzil”- a type of cephalosporin  antibiotic sold under the name of “Ceftin / Zinacef” by Glaxo smith Kline in the UK, commonly used to treat bacterial infections.

The antibiotics were prescribed by a Dr. Boris Najdenow and Mittank obtained the medication from a local pharmacy. He walked around the local area looking for a new place to stay and eventually decided on a place named “The hotel color” in Varna, which costs around $25 a night and is reviewed as average on trip advisor.  One user comments that the hotel is just a 15 minute walk from the bus stop, and another describes it as a “friendly, family run hotel”. Some complained of outdated interior and stained sheets.

The following day Lars started acting strangely.

At 10 minutes to mid-midnight Lars called his mother using his cell phone and told her that he felt scared. He asked her if she would contact his bank and freeze his credit card. He also called her again at 3am and told her in a low whisper that he was hiding from a group of men who had been following him.

Lars had left thehotel with his things in the middle of the night, staff said.

He texted his mother asking her what “CFC 500” was. CFC500 is the abbreviation for the anti-biotics he had been prescribed earlier for his ruptured eardrum. He would have most likely been prescribed this to prevent an ear infection.

At 6am Lars was dropped off at the airport in a taxi. He had apparently shared the cab with another passenger after waving it down in the street. They supposedly described him as having Mydriasis. Although most peoples first though when they hear someone has “large” or “dilated” pupils is drug use (such as amphetamines) mydriasis can also be caused by trauma, including head injuries although the trauma usually has to be quite severe.

I was wondering, what type of surgery did Dr. Boris Najdenow suggest that Mittank needed? There are surgeries with low risk to repair ruptured ear drums, but it can also heal on its own given time (usually a month or so). Surgery would have allowed Mittank to leave the hospital within a couple of days and be on his way, so maybe it was offered so he could get back to Germany more quickly?

Once at the airport he called his mother who booked him a flight home and advised himn to drop in on the airport doctor before boarding. He still believed that the group of men (four individuals) were chasing him and would refuse to let him leave Bulgaria by bus or plane.

Who were these 4 men? Did they actually exist?

Did Lars possibly attempt to get back to Germany by another method of transport? It’s possible to drive from Bulgaria to Germany. It would take you a full day but maybe Lars thought he could hitchhike back home if he was afraid of being found by these 4 mystery men on the scheduled buses and trains.

Lars managed to locate the airport doctor who examined him and would later describe him as being emotionally depleted.

 The examination was momentarily disturbed by an airport employee who wanted to chat to the doctor about doing some work on her office. 

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This set Lars off and he jumped up, fleeing the airport. Eventually he found his way out and witness’ say he managed to climb over a fence and jump into a field  on the other side. The barbed wire wrapped around the top of fence did little to prevent his escape. (This is not shown on the CCTV footage, however)

No one would ever see Lars Mittank again.

A truck driver claimed to have given him a ride around April 2015, but this sighting was never officially confirmed. 

If you have any information regarding Lars, please do not hesitate to contact the numbers below. 

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