- Miles Routledge went viral after he posted on 4chan that he was in Kabul,
Afghanistan on Friday. - The student appeared to livestream from a safehouse on Sunday after the
Taliban occupied Kabul. - A Facebook profile purporting to be Routledge says that he has now left on an evacuation flight.
Miles Routledge, a 21-year old Loughborough University physics student who reportedly went to Afghanistan, appears to have now been evacuated to Dubai "thanks to the brilliant people at the British Army," according to a video posted to his purported Facebook account.
-RT (@RT_com) August 17, 2021
The Daily Mail reported earlier this week that Routledge arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 13 on a flight from Istanbul, Turkey. After being moved into a safehouse on Sunday, according to Input, following Taliban insurgence in the country, a Facebook account under his name said that he was being evacuated on a flight to Dubai on Tuesday.
Since posting about his trip on 4chan, a forum associated with the development of internet memes and various online subcultures, Routledge has become a viral figure on the site, with users making memes of him and referring to him as "Lord Miles" after Routledge appeared to say that he bought a Lordship for £15.
Miles Routledge appears to have posted across social media platforms about his trip to Afghanistan
Accounts under Routledge's name have shared regular updates about his trip across Twitch, 4chan, and Facebook.
Routledge first appeared to start posting about his trip on August 13. On a now-deleted 4chan thread, it appears that Routledge wrote on Friday that he was "goofing off and soaking up the sun" in Kabul. With doubts cast over the validity of the trip, the account later posted what appeared to be a plane ticket from Istanbul to Kabul. Details on the ticket matched valid flight records reviewed by Insider.
Routledge also appears to have documented his purported trip on this Facebook account, with several since-removed images appearing to show him in Kabul. Insider has been unable to independently verify the posts.
One purported screenshot of a Facebook post from Friday appears to show several images of Routledge at a bird market in Afghanistan. "A bomb went off around 5oom from here but we're all gucci," the account wrote. On the same day, a 4chan user purporting to be Routledge posted that they "did some trolling in the bird market this morning."
Routledge appeared to go live on streaming platform Twitch on Sunday. During the stream, which has since been re-uploaded to YouTube, Routledge appeared to show a visa that allowed him access to Afghanistan in response to comments doubting his account.
On Monday and Tuesday, Routledge appeared to publish two posts saying he was being evacuated via Dubai. On August 15, the United Arab Emirates foreign ministry said it was working to facilitate evacuations of citizens of Britain and other countries, according to Reuters.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office was unable to confirm Routledge's whereabouts, but said, "We are working hard to contact all the British nationals we are aware of who remain in Afghanistan, to help them leave the country. The safety of British nationals is our top priority which is why we have been urging British nationals to leave Afghanistan by commercial means since April 21. On August 6 we updated our advice to urge British nationals to leave immediately and to update us on their plans for departure."
Routledge and his friends have spoken to various publications
Routledge has spoken about his experiences with various publications.
"I was under the impression that the country wouldn't fall for another month, so I thought it was going to be fine," he said in an interview with The Spectator.
In an interview with Input, Routledge said he knew "s--t hit the fan" in Kabul on the third day of his trip, August 15. While trying to visit an ATM, he told Input he witnessed a bank run, which has been reported on by Al Jazeera, with hundreds of people waiting outside to get money.
Routledge told Input that he visited a range of embassies to try and get assistance, but that they were all closed. He says that he then hitchhiked to Kabul airport along with his translator, but was unable to get a flight. According to Input, Routledge said he was then guided by locals to a safehouse.
Routledge's friend also spoke to The Sun. They described Routledge's trip as an "elaborate meme gone way too far."
His mother Susan has also been in contact with The Sun, although Routledge appeared to confirm during his livestream and on 4chan that he was not in contact with his family.
When contacted by Insider, Routledge's only comment was to thank the Canadian embassy and his tour guide, saying, "We are good friends and thank God we've made it this far. I can never thank him enough for his help."
Routledge said he is a fan of extreme tourism and plans to go to North Korea next
"I hate lying around on a beach so I wanted to do something a little bit different," Routledge said to The Times.
He told Input that his first experience of "extreme tourism" - which involves traveling to past or present sites of extreme tragedy and death - was on a trip to Chernobyl, Ukraine with his friend two years ago.
A Facebook account appearing to belong to Routledge celebrating the "two-year anniversary" of this trip in a post in May. In the post, the account holder joked that Chernobyl was "better than my university halls."
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.