Police open investigation after two Paralympic athletes from Congo are reported missing during Paris Games

Two Congolese athletes have been reported missing following the Paris Paralympic Games.

Sprinter Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, 35, who has vision problems, and Mireille Nganga, 48, who failed to achieve any record in the javelin and shot put competitions, have been missing since September 5, according to Le Parisien. Police have opened an investigation.

It was claimed that although the athletes’ luggage had also disappeared, their passports were still with the Congolese delegation.

The Congolese Paralympic Committee had no comment on the case when contacted by the Associated Press.

The missing athletes had been flag bearers at the opening ceremony on August 28.

A member of Rwanda’s women’s Paralympic sitting volleyball team also went missing in Paris last month.

The athlete did not show up for the opening ceremony, despite arriving in the French capital on time.

On August 20, he left his accommodation in Paris to visit a restaurant with a group of people, but did not return.

A later police statement said the “worrying disappearance” was being investigated and had been referred to the BRDP (Brigade for the Repression of Crimes against Persons).

While it is deeply worrying and there are genuine fears for the safety of those missing in Paris, the disappearance of athletes at the Olympic, Paralympic or Commonwealth Games is something that has happened many times before.

More than a dozen athletes, including two from Rwanda, have been reported missing during or immediately after the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Many of them are known to have fled to seek asylum.

However, it is not known whether the athletes currently missing after Paris deliberately fled.