It had been an entire, agonising week since anyone had heard from Riley Commins.
The 23-year-old Australian traveller had seemingly vanished after a Contiki tour in London, leaving his family distraught.
Nobody was quite sure what had happened to him. What they did know was that it was around midday on May 30 when all communication with Commins had ended. And he had stayed the night at the Royal National Hotel the night before.
"It's very concerning and it's very out of character for Riley to not have contact with anyone," Riley's sister Natalie Commins said at the time.
He was meant to have then boarded a flight back home to Australia, but he never made it. So loved ones set up a Facebook page in a bid to find him, which has received more than 2000 likes.
Concern was how he went the entire time without accessing his bank account was raised on the page, which stated: "His last known card activity occurred at Yotel Heathrow Airport at an ATM at approx. 6:35pm on the 30/05/16 but this is not confirmed to be him as of yet".
But finally, the news came that they had been waiting for: Commins was tracked down at a London hospital this morning. But the mystery of his disappearance has only deepened, with no word as to how he ended up there instead of on the plane.
His father Tony has flown to London to be with his son and is overjoyed.
"I'm so excited, I'm so happy, (it's) absolutely wonderful," Tony told Channel 7 upon his airport arrival.
ANOTHER MISSING AUSSIE
It comes as a Brazilian fisherman insists he saw another missing Australian, backpacker Rye Hunt, begging for water on an uninhabited island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
The fisherman, who wished to remain anonymous, told Rio's newspaper O Globo he had "no doubt" he saw the Tasmanian on Cotunduba Island, located off the coast of Rio approximately one kilometre from Copacabana, the day after his disappearance on May 22.
The news came as Brazilian police ceased the sea search for the missing Australian after 72 hours following reports of a body spotted floating at sea.