Five Eritreans competing in world cross country championships go missing

Athletes fail to turn up to the start of Saturday event in Aarhus

Apr 1, 2019

Five Eritrean athletes due to compete in the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships over the weekend have disappeared.

The Africans were last seen at a hotel in Aarhus on Thursday, and Dansk Atletikforbund subsequently informed the authorities, confirmed Østjyllands Politi.

No passports with them
None of the athletes have their passports with them, and all five had the necessary visa to compete in the event on Saturday. Their genders have not yet been confirmed.

The police, who have ruled out the possibility that anything sinister has happened to the athletes, have asked the public to call 114 if they sight the missing athletes.

Eritrean connection
The episode follows a number of similar occurrences connected to Denmark.

Just last week, it was reported that five young Africans living in Denmark had disappeared in the UK whilst on school trips. At least four of the five were Eritrean.

And in 2014, eleven young Indians disappeared whilst playing in a handball tournament in Dronninglund in north Jutland.

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