Paris 2024 Paralympics - Rwandan Para-Athlete Goes Missing

Rwandan female volleyball player Claudine Bazubagira has gone missing in France.

Bazubagira, a setter for the national sitting volleyball team, was part of Team Rwanda's para-athletes representing the country at Paris 2024 Paralympics.

She disappeared a week before the Games kicked off on August 28.

National Paralympic Committee (NPC) president Jean Baptiste Murema, who traveled with the team to Paris, told Times Sport that Bazubagira disappeared on Aug 20 when she was with her colleagues at a restaurant.

Murema said that no one in the camp knows her whereabouts and confirmed that he informed the French police about her disappearance.

"We have given all details to police and a formal investigation has been opened into the player's disappearance," Murema said in an interview.

Bazubagira's disappearance saw Rwandan squad cut to 13 players. The team has lost both group stage encounters against Brazil (3-0) on August 29 and Slovenia (3-1) on Saturday, August 31.

ALSO READ: Paris 2024 Paralympics: Rwanda falls to Brazil in Sitting volleyball opener

Bazubagira, 44, was born in Musanze District, Northern Province. The setter stands at 160m.

It is not first time athletes went missing while on international duty. In 2018, beach Volleyball player Denise Mutatsimpundu and Powerlifting coach in NPC, Jean Paul Nsengiyumva also disappeared in Australia.

This article originally appeared on New Times