By Rike Fabia Lohmann, Matthias Lukashewitsch and Hildburg Bruns
The State Criminal Police Office is looking for 20 participants in the Special Olympics World Games who did not return to their home countries as planned. This was announced by Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) on Tuesday at the Senate press conference.
“We are in contact with the police and the missing persons office. The federal police were informed. There is no evidence of an accident,” said Spranger.
A spokesman for the Organizing Committee of the World Games on the BZ: “There are 20 people who are not exclusively athletes.” So you also know that a coach has not left Berlin.
The spokesman continued: “The missing people come from Algeria, Burundi, Guinea, Cameroon, Lebanon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Libya.”
However, the visa has not expired for everyone. A spokeswoman for the Berlin police on the BZ: “These people are allowed to move freely in Berlin as long as the visa is valid.”
The Special Olympics World Games, the largest sports event for athletes with intellectual disabilities, took place in the German capital from June 17th to 25th. Around 7,000 athletes from 176 countries traveled to Berlin for the World Games.