Six African and Asian delegates to the Special Olympics Summer World Games remained missing last night after failing to turn up for their return flights.
The coaches and athletes include four men from the west African state of Niger, who left their luggage behind in their Dublin hotel when they went out for the day on Sunday.
Team coaches from Pakistan and Sudan were also reported missing yesterday after they failed to turn up for their respective flights home.
The three competitors and their coach from Niger were last seen at around 8 a.m. on Sunday when they left Bewleys Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin, to go shopping in the city.
They did not attend Sunday night's games closing ceremony and were noticed missing by their two team mates only when they failed to board buses early yesterday with them to travel to Dublin Airport for their 6.50 a.m. flight.
The missing Niger athletes, all track and field competitors in their 20s, include an athlete who took first place in the 800-metre race, Ballo I. Bakol Issa. All three had only slight learning disabilities, according to gardaí.
Gardaí at Donnybrook station in Dublin have made a public appeal for information to help trace the French-speakers, who have a very poor command of English. They were all dressed in casual clothes rather than sportswear when they left the hotel.
Insp Martin McGonnell said a reported sighting of the men yesterday turned out to be of a delegate from the African state of Chad, which is also a former French colony. He said the men had money with them, but had left their luggage in their hotel rooms.
Insp McGonnell said he could not speculate about whether the men would seek asylum here as refugees fleeing persecution. If they did so, the authorities would be obliged to allow them to live in the State while their applications were processed.
"Our main concern is that they are safe and well," Insp McGonnell said. Few Niger nationals have sought asylum in Ireland, with four applications last year, six the previous year and none this year to date.
A spokesman for the Special Olympics said the failure of the men to turn up at Sunday night's closing ceremony did not cause alarm as some delegates who had early-morning flights did not attend the event in Croke Park.
He said there was no reason to suspect that the missing delegates were not legitimate competitors and coaches as the Special Olympics organisations in their country would have validated their participation.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the immigration division agreed to give visas to all games participants who where accredited by the Special Olympics Committee.
The four missing Niger men are Abdoulaye Sekouba (37), team coach, last seen wearing a red, green and yellow jumper and jeans; Mamoudou Alassane (28), wearing a black top; Ballo I. Bakol Issa (25), in a light blue shirt and jeans; and Yacouba Hamadou (21), last seen wearing a black top.
Gardaí have not put out an appeal for the two missing coaches, as they do not have special needs.
They were named last night as Khalid Ahmed (31) from Sudan and Mohammed Idreaf Khan (24) from Pakistan.