Missing elderly men found at heavy metal festival

The two were returned to their nursing home later in a taxi.

August 6, 2018, 5:59 PM

Two elderly German men who went missing from their nursing home were discovered around 3 a.m. Saturday at a days-long heavy metal festival about 50 miles from Hamburg.

The two men, who weren't identified, were found at Wacken Open Air, about 16 miles from their residence in Dithmarschen, part of Schleswig-Holstein, police said.

Police helped corral the men, who were placed into a taxi and sent home. Neither seemed particularly ready to leave, so a police car followed the taxi as a precaution.

Wacken Open Air, aka W:O:A, is a four-day heavy metal festival held every year, usually near the beginning of August. Tens of thousands of visitors descend on Wacken to join the approximately 1,800 townsfolk, who are permitted to attend the festival for free.

W:O:A was immortalized in the 2006 documentary "Full Metal Village."

This year's scheduled lineup includes Danzig, Judas Priest and Hatebreed.