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See "Alpine skiing-Nepali teenager ski racer goes missing in the Alps"
"A Nepali ski racer has disappeared from his team's base in the French Alps after
joining a group of Jehovah's Witnesses, his coach said on Thursday."
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=skiing&id=4115586
PARIS, April 30 - A Nepali ski racer has disappeared from his team's base in the French Alps after joining a group of Jehovah's Witnesses, his coach said on Thursday.
"Uttam Rayamajhi, 17, vanished from the team ski base at Les Arcs on Monday with no money, minimal French and very little clothing. He has not been seen or heard from since and team members fear for his safety," Richard Morley said in a statement.
"He was approached by Jehovah's Witnesses and recruited into their church. The day after attending his first service with the sect he vanished from the team's mountain chalet home during a heavy rainstorm.
"Despite extensive efforts by the police at Bourg St Maurice, no trace of him has been found."
Morley told Reuters by telephone that Rayamajhi had been extremely distressed lately following the disintegration of the Nepal ski team in the wake of a funding row with the Nepal Olympic Committee.
Morley, a British businessman and former skier, launched the Nepal Alpine skiing team in 1997 at the request of the Himalayan country's then ruler King Birendra.
Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian group formed in the United States in the 19th Century, has grown worldwide mainly through door-to-door preaching by its followers. The organisation was not immediately available for comment about Rayamajhi.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email: [email protected])
This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index
French police search for missing Nepalese skier
French police and colleagues of a skier from the Nepalese national team were increasingly concerned for his welfare Sunday, nealry a week after the teenager went missing from a training camp in the Alps.
PARIS - French police and colleagues of a skier from the Nepalese national team were increasingly concerned for his welfare Sunday, nealry a week after the teenager went missing from a training camp in the Alps.
Uttam Rayamajhi, 17, quit the team's training base at Les Arcs, southeast France, last Monday, upset over a funding row that threatened the funding of the country's ski team.
Rayamajhi speaks neither French nor English, had no money, no mobile phone and no experience of big cities, said Richard Morley, a former team coach Richard Morley who has been overseeing the squad in the Alps.
"Either he is still lost in the mountains or, more probably, on the streets of a big city in France -- likely Paris -- living rough, wandering around and probably having to steal food," Morley told AFP by telephone.
"He comes from the mountains of Nepal so he's not a street-savvy city boy. He's easy prey. That's why I'm so worried about him," added Morley.
Dominique Hoffmann, an officer with the paramilitary gendarmerie police at Albertville, southeast France, said Rayamaghi's team-members had explained how depressed he was over the funding problems.
"But anything is possible: an argument or an encounter," he added.
Investigators had ruled nothing out, Hoffmann said.
Rayamajhi had initially sought support from a local branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses, said Morley.
But local police at nearby Bourg Saint Maurice were satisfied he was no longer with the group, he added.
"He did speak to them, but the Jehovah's Witnesses have assured me they gave him no adresses or contacts of anyone in France."
He added: "The police and I both believe he has gone to a major city and I think he could be in Paris."
Rayamajhi competed in the Ski World Championships at the French resort of Val d'Isere in February.
AFP / Expatica
Missing Nepali racer found in Paris
Monday, 11 May 2009
Reuters reported today that Nelpali ski racer Uttam Rayamajhi, 17, who has been missing since disappearing from the team’s base in the French Alps on April 27, has been found in Paris. Social networking website Facebook played a part in his discovery.
Rayamajhi, who disappeared the day after joining a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses, had no money or extra clothing with him when he vanished in the middle of a heavy rainstorm last month.
"(He) has been discovered on the streets of Paris after members of the public recognized him from a Facebook campaign launched to find him," the team said in a statement.
"The teenager had been living rough after walking several hundred kilometers across France surviving through the kindness of local people ... Eventually a stranger alerted him to the Facebook campaign and showed him the news on the Internet.
"Over 400 friends and well-wishers joined the (Facebook) campaign in less than a week."
According to team manager Richard Morley, just prior to his disappearance Rayamajhi had been distresses over recent disputes between the ski team and the Nepal Olympic Committee. Morley told investigators he suspected the teenager would head for Paris after disappearing.
"Uttam agreed to return to the team base when he learned that his disappearance was jeopardizing the funding and participation of teammate Shyam Dhakal at the (2010) Vancouver Winter Olympics," the team told Reuters Monday.
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