JAKARTA - The man believed to be a Ugandan athlete who went missing from a pre-Olympic training camp in western Japan last week was caught on surveillance cameras at JR Nagoya Station, about 200 kilometers from where he lives.
Julius Ssekitoleko, a weightlifter who lives in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, went missing on Friday. The city government has been looking for him with the help of the police.
According to Izumisano officials, he bought a ticket for the shinkansen train to Nagoya after leaving a note at his hotel saying he wanted to work in Japan.
Ssekitoleko, in a note left at his hotel said that he did not want to return to Uganda because life there was difficult, and asked members of the delegation to give his belongings to his wife in his home country.
It was reported that he was not at the hotel when an official asked for a sample for a COVID-19 test around Friday afternoon. He was reportedly last seen around 12.30pm by his teammates.
All members of the delegation must submit their samples for COVID-19 tests in the morning.
The incident comes just a week before the Olympics' opening that could spark concerns over the coronavirus preventive measures promised by organizers, who said athletes would only be allowed to go to certain locations and would not have contact with local residents.
Organizers have repeatedly said the Tokyo Olympics can be held safely, but public skepticism remains high especially because of the surge in COVID-19 cases in the Japanese capital.
A nine-member Ugandan delegation arrived at Narita airport, near Tokyo, on June 19, as one of the first teams to arrive in Japan for the Olympics, but two members tested positive for COVID-19.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
