Dubai, Oct 23 (IANS): An Indian man, who had disappeared from his hometown in Kerala nearly 40 years ago, has been found by his family at a hospital in Dubai in the UAE, a newspaper report said.

Now in his 60s, Abdulla Punathil Usman has been working as a cook in an Arab national's house in Hor Al Anz since early 1970s, the Gulf News reported Wednesday.

"He hails from Chakkavad in Thrissur district in Kerala. My brother Khalid and I happen to be from a village close by and met him in Dubai over 20 years ago," the paper quoted Abdul Gafoor, a Dubai-based driver, as saying Tuesday after Abdulla Punathil Usman's family put out a missing persons advertisement in media.

Usman's family eventually found him in a Dubai hospital, nursing a heavily infected foot.

Usman could even recollect instances from their early days but he gave no explanation for his long silence. "It's nothing, the years have just gone by," he was quoted as saying.

An officer from the Indian consulate visited him at the hospital and told him he will be provided with all assistance for return to Kerala, the report said.