An American man reported missing months back has been found alive after an apparent release from a Syrian prison.
Travis Timmerman told media outlets that he was kept locked up in prison after entering the country illegally as a pilgrim. Timmerman’s release came as anti-Assad forces swept through the country, overthrowing a decades-long dynasty. In the process, thousands of people have been released from prisons nationwide.
Timmerman told CBS News that he had been held for several months after crossing the border from Lebanon without permission. He told the network he was visiting the country for “spiritual purposes.”
On Monday, two armed men broke down his cell door, freeing him from confinement, according to Timmerman.
“My door was busted down, it woke me up… I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the warfare could have been more active than it ended up being… Once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting,” he said, per CBS.
He then left the prison with a large group, attempting to reach neighboring Jordan. He was soon located in southern Damascus, Syria’s capital, walking barefoot in the streets.
“I was never beaten. The only really bad part was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom,” he said.
In August, Hungarian police posted an alert that Timmerman had gone missing. However, a family friend wrote on a social media post that he had not been seen since June. The State Highway Patrol in his home state of Missouri said Timmerman’s last known whereabouts were in Budapest near the end of May.
Another American, journalist Austin Tice, remains missing after being detained in Syria in 2012. The new interim Syrian government says they are working to locate Tice amid the commotion in the country.
A U.S. official told CNN that the United States is “aware of reports of an American found outside of Damascus and seeking to provide support.”
“Out of respect for his privacy, we have no further information to provide at this time,” added the official.