PETALING JAYA: A French tourist resorted to an ingenious way to look for his handphone after leaving it in the car of a stranger.

Yves Oyage forgot his phone in the woman’s car after hitching a ride from her to a bank in Bagan Lalang, Sepang, last weekend.

Not knowing her name or where she lived, the 30-year-old opted to wait for her at the same spot where she picked him the day before, in the hope that she would pass by again.

“Help Me! My name is Yves from France. I forgot my mobile in your car Sunday. Can you bring it to the police station in Sungay Pelek. Thank you,” he wrote on a banner as he waited for the woman for nearly six hours on Monday.

She did not show up, but Oyage’s quest went viral after Facebook user Nur Halim Ibrahim posted a picture of him with his banner.

“Please help! This man stranded here and lost his phone in a car. Someone offered this man a lift on Sunday. He left his phone and is now looking for the female driver of the grey Proton Wira,” Nur Halim wrote in the post that was shared more than 2,500 times.

image: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/04/11/hello-hello-we-found-your-phone-frenchman-in-distress-told/~/media/28cd82fef7044d7dbf27258a5dadea33.ashx

He updated it later Monday to reveal that the mystery woman had been found.

“Update: Finally we found her! Thanks everybody for your help!” he wrote.

Oyage also commented on Nur Halim’s post, thanking him and other Malaysians for drawing attention to his situation.

“Thank you to all the Malaysian friends. Today a lot of people said to me, you cannot find your phone, is impossible to find the woman! Never give up, nothing is impossible,” he wrote.

Oyage, who is from the small town of Josse in south-western France, had been travelling around the world for the last one year and was due to depart for the Philippines this Saturday. He arrived in Malaysia on April 1.

The missing phone was valuable to him as it contained photos, videos and documentation from his travels to various countries that included Canada, United States, India, Thailand, and Cambodia.

The 30-year-old also earned the sympathy of a resort owner in Bagan Lalang, Datuk Ahmad Talal Abdul Razim, who offered him a room to stay for the night, free of charge.

Ahmad Talal, who owns the Bagan Villa Resort in Pantai Bagan Lalang, spotted Oyage waiting by the side of the road on Sunday evening, and extended his help.-thestar