Six teen members of the Burundi robotics team who were competing in an international competition this week in Washington, D.C., have been reported missing.
Police tweeted missing-person flyers on Wednesday of the team members, who were last seen as a group in the area of the FIRST Global Challenge at the time of Tuesday’s finals matches. The team members, two girls and four boys, range in age from 16 to 18, the Associated Press reports.
The robotics event, which was held in the capital July 16-18, was open to students around the world ages 15 to 18; 158 countries, including 40 African countries, were represented. At one point the teams from Gambia and Afghanistan were denied visas to attend the event with their inventions, but the teams were later allowed entry into the U.S.
USA Today reports that two of the six team members—Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, and Don Ingabire, 16—were seen entering Canada sometime after the Tuesday competition events, according to police spokeswoman Margarita Mikhaylova. The location of the other four students—identified as Aristide Irambona, 18; Nice Munezero, 17; Kevin Sabumukiza, 17; and Richard Irakoze, 18—is unknown. The teens had one-year visas.
“We don’t have an update on the whereabouts [of the others], but we have no indication that there was foul play,” Mikhaylova told USA Today.
Read more at the New York Post and USA Today.
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