MELBOURNE, March 26: Three more Sierra Leone athletes have gone missing at the Commonwealth Games, bringing to 14 the number that have vanished, sparking a furious response from the government in Freetown. Victoria state police said team officials had now filed 14 missing persons reports, meaning two-thirds of their 21-strong squad have absconded amid concerns that they will seek asylum.

The Sierra Leone government said they had brought disgrace on the nation, which is one of the poorest and most corrupt in the world.

“The government deplores the behaviour of the athletes that have tarnished the image of the west African state,” Sports Minister Dennis Bright said in the capital Freetown.

He said authorities had taken precautionary measures to prevent what has become a tradition by athletes from the war-ravaged country to abuse the visas given to them for the Games.

The athletes were also spoken to by President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah before they took off for Asutralia.

“The president encouraged them not to bring Sierra Leone into disgrace and they gave us the assurance ... that they would not behave like those had done before,” said Bright.

Details of the latest three athletes missing were not available, but it is thought they are members of the women’s 4x400m relay team who failed to run in the final on Saturday evening.

The others missing include two boxers, two cyclists, a weightlifter and six members of the athletics team.

Twenty-one out of a team of 30 failed to return to Sierra Leone following the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

The athletes’ visas do not expire until April 26.—AFP