Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona has left hospital to stay with friends 12 days after being rushed to intensive care with lung and heart trouble.
Maradona's secret departure sparked a manhunt by the waiting press, who have given extensive coverage to the national hero since he was taken ill with a swollen heart on April 18th after watching his beloved Boca Juniors play.
The 43-year-old, regarded as one of the greatest players in soccer history, moved to a friend's house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. He has been living in Cuba for much of the past four years being treated for cocaine addiction.
Television pictures and photographs showed an overweight Maradona mingling with friends by a golf cart outside the large country house only hours after he left the hospital.
Maradona has been back on his feet since Wednesday, walking around his hospital room, and he watched Argentina play Morocco in a friendly international.
That was a vast improvement from a few days previously when he had been in a critical condition, heavily sedated and on an artificial respirator.