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CRIMINAL

Facebook assists in search for missing teen

Social networking site Facebook has confirmed that it is assisted Oslo police in their inquiries into the disappearance of 16-year-old Sigrid Giskegjerde Schjetne, after initially refusing access to her account.

Published: 10 August 2012 09:29 CEST
Facebook assists in search for missing teen
Photo: Scanpix
Norwegian police have previously claimed that the website had refused them access to her account. 
 
During a press briefing on the investigation into the missing girl, Oslo police inspector Hanne Kristin Rohde said investigators had "for the time being received a 'no' from Facebook regarding access and insight into her account."
 
She did not specify the reasons Facebook had given for the refusal, but said the social networking site had saved the content of the account and that police would submit a new request.
 
But Facebook told AFP in an emailed statement that the social networking site had been assisting police in the investigation.
 
"We've been cooperating with the police within a matter of minutes of them contacting us and are supplying them with further information relevant to the investigation," the statement said, without providing further details.
 
Sixteen-year-old Sigrid Giskegjerde Schjetne disappeared on her way home late Saturday. 
 
Her shoes and mobile phone were found near a kindergarten on the route between her friend's house and her home. There were also witness reports of hearing screams around the time she was reported missing.
 
The case has engaged Oslo this week with hundreds of volunteers collecting each day to assist police in the search. 

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SKIING

Spain mourns Blanca Fernández Ochoa, the Olympian skier found dead in Madrid’s sierra

The body of former Spanish alpine skimedallist Blanca Fernández Ochoa was found Wednesday in a mountainous area near Madrid after days of searches for her by hundreds of police and volunteers, officials said.

Published: 5 September 2019 09:34 CEST
Spain mourns Blanca Fernández Ochoa, the Olympian skier found dead in Madrid's sierra
Archive photo of Blanca Fernández Ochoa during her Olympic career.

The 56-year-old — won a bronze skiing for Spain in the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, becoming the country's first female Winter Olympic medallist — had been missing since she was last spotted on surveillance video at a shopping centre on August 24th.

Her car was later found at a parking lot near the start of a hiking trail in Cercedilla, a mountainous village near Madrid. The authorities said they are still investigating the cause of her death.

“Solidarity, support and human warmth have been felt these days in the mountains of Cercedilla. Security forces and many volunteers have taken part in the search for Blanca Fernández Ochoa. But nothing could be done. My affection to all her family,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted.

Hundreds of police, firefighters, forest rangers and volunteers, backed by helicopters, drones and tracking dogs, had taken part in the search for Fernández Ochoa.

Her family only alerted the authorities about her disappearance on August 29th because they said it was not unusual for her to go on hikes in the area, even without her phone, according to Spanish media reports.

Police on Saturday issued an appeal on social media for help from the public in locating Fernández Ochoa along with a picture of her, which drew media attention to her disappearance.

She was well known in Spain, where she had taken part in several TV reality shows after retiring from sports.

Her older brother, Francisco Fernández Ochoa, won a gold medal for skiing in the 1972 Winter Olympics in Japan. He is the first and only Spaniard to have won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.   

There is a statue in his honour in Cercedilla.   

Until 2018 the brother and sister were the only Spaniards to have won medals at a Winter Olympics.

“It is a very sad day for Spanish sports,” Spain's secretary of state for sports, Maria Jose Rienda, said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Snowboarder from Ceuta wins Olympic medal for Spain

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