Dutchman Alexander Pieter Cirk, 41, required medical treatment for physical exhaustion after his epic wait at Changsha airport in China’s Hunan province, CCTV News reports.

Mr Cirk had been messaging Zhang, a 26-year-old Chinese woman, for about two months before he decided to fly thousands of miles around the world to pay her a visit.

However, when he landed at the airport there was no-one there to greet him - so he waited. And waited.

After 10 days Mr Cirk, who is diabetic, was admitted to hospital. He flew back to the Netherlands on Monday this week – without having met up with Zhang.

She told a local TV station that she hadn’t expected her online-boyfriend to show up in real life: "We had advanced our romantic relationship but later he seemed a little callous toward me.

"One day he sent me a photo of air tickets abruptly, and I thought it was a joke. He didn’t contact me later."

While he was at the airport Zhang says she was out of town – and didn’t receive any phone messages from him.

However, she did say she’s be interested in keeping their relationship going – despite Mr Cirk being back on the other side of the world.

(telegraph.co.uk)