Ten young Burundian handball players who participated in the Under-19 World Championship in Croatia (August 2-13) disappeared in the middle of the tournament, Croatian police said Thursday.
“These are ten young men, born in 2006, who left yesterday (Wednesday) around 3:30 p.m. the premises of a university residence in Rijeka and who left in an unknown direction”, regional police said in a statement. The police launched an operation “with the aim of finding the missing persons and to establish the facts and circumstances of their disappearance”.
The Burundian players, who had already played several matches in the group stage, were due to play a match against Bahrain on Thursday, which therefore did not take place.
Croatia, gateway to the European Union
Member of the EU since 2013, Croatia is one of the transit countries for illegal migrants from African and Asian countries, who try to reach Western Europe via the Balkans. This country also entered the Schengen area of free movement in January, without border controls between member countries.
Located in East Africa, Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world and one of the most densely populated on the continent.
