Spanish police are investigating the disappearance of four Cameroon women’s handball players who apparently escaped from the team’s hotel in Valencia on the sidelines of the World Championships.
A police spokesman said the Cameroon delegation had reported the missing players on Thursday.
The police did not treat the players’ disappearance as a suspicious event after they left with all their belongings, and there was no indication of a problem or conflict.
The spokesman said: They left of their own volition, it seems. He added that the police had no idea where they might have gone.
The tournament started on the first of December. Athletes have frequently used international sporting events to seek asylum or escape poor conditions in their home countries, including seven Cameroonians who disappeared during the 2012 London Olympics.