3 Nepalese athletes disappear from Asiad

By Kim Se-jeong

Police are looking for three Nepalese athletes who have disappeared from the Incheon Asian Games Athletes’ Village.

According to the organizing committee, one athlete who participated in the sepak takraw competition disappeared on Wednesday. Two others who competed in wushu have not been seen since Friday morning.

The committee refused to identify the athletes, and expressed regret about the situation.

Police suspect all might seek to become illegal migrants.

Surveillance camera footage showed the two wushu athletes leaving the village at 2:08 a.m. with bags in their hands, police said. They had left their passports in their room in the village.

The rest of the team returned home on Friday afternoon.

The sepak takraw player left the village at 7:50 a.m. on Wednesday, and did not show up when his team gathered to fly home later that day.

The visas for all three will expire on Oct. 19.

The police said if they show up before the expiration date, they can go home “without being punished.”

Search efforts were underway in areas where there are many Nepalese nationals, police said.

Raja Ram Bartaula from the Nepalese Embassy in Seoul suspected the disappearance was a premeditated act with help of an outsider who knows the Incheon area well and has a vehicle to drive them.

“They’re probably trying to look for jobs,” Bartaula said.