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

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

Visually impaired sprinter Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, 35, and 48-year-old Mireille Nganga – who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions – have been missing since September 5, according to Le Parisien. Police have since opened an investigation.

It has been claimed that although the athletes’ luggage had also gone, their passports were still with the Congolese delegation.

The Paralympic Committee from Congo did not comment on the case when contacted by the Associated Press.

The missing athletes had both been flagbearers at the opening ceremony on August 28. 

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

The athlete did not appear at the opening ceremony, despite arriving in the French capital on time.

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

A police statement later said the ‘worrying disappearance’ was being looked into and that it had been referred to the BRDP [the Brigade for the Suppression of Crimes against Persons].’ 

While it is highly concerning and there are genuine fears for the safety of the missing people in Paris, athletes disappearing at an Olympic, Paralympic or Commonwealth Games is something that has happened many times before.

More than a dozen athletes – including two from Rwanda – were declared missing during or immediately after the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. 

It is understood that many of them ran away to claim asylum.

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