French judicial authorities investigates the disappearance of two Congolese Paralympic athletes who recently competed in The Paris Gamesthe prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on September 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation alerted authorities to their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, disappeared on September 5 along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Democratic Republic of Congo Paralympic Committee did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga – who did not record any marks in the sitting javelin and shot put events – and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, said the organizers.