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MISSING

Police suspect missing woman was abducted

Residents in Mariestad in western Sweden are forming a search party on Saturday afternoon with hopes of finding a 29-year-old woman who went missing on Thursday.

The organization Missing People Sweden, which has helped to find several lost persons in the past, is rallying volunteers for the search party.

The 29-year-old woman, called Angelica, worked at Mariestad’s public indoor swimming pool. She is believed to have disappeared on Thursday between 8pm and 9pm after leaving work.

Police found Angelica’s keys and mobile phone in her car, which had been left unlocked.

At present the police have no new information about her whereabouts but they suspect she was abducted.

“We are talking to people in the vicinity to see if a vehicle has shown up or if anyone has seen her,” local police chief Lars Johansson said.

Missing People have sent out a text message to registered volunteers, urging them to join this afternoon’s search for Angelica.

Spokesperson Anki Dahlberg estimates that the search could take up to three hours.

Every year, 7,000 people are reported missing in Sweden.

TT/The Local/nr

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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.

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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