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MISSING

Angelica, 29, found alive after kidnapping

A 29-year-old woman who went missing in Mariestad in western Sweden on Thursday has been found alive, telling police that she had been the victim of a kidnapping.

Angelica, 29, found alive after kidnapping

The woman, called Angelica, was found in her home town of Gothenburg on Saturday evening and according to a police statement on Sunday morning she claims that she had been kidnapped.

“She claimed when she was found that she had been abducted,” the police said, following an interview with the woman.

Further interviews will be held during the day on Sunday.

Speaking with the Expressen newspaper, her boyfriend said she is scarred both mentally and physically, but is able to walk and talk.

“She’s received kicks and blows to the head, but is doing well under the circumstances,” he told the paper.

The 29-year-old was found at around 10pm on Saturday following a search operation.

According to the Aftonbladet daily, the woman was taken to Östra hospital after having been found in a parking lot. The newspaper has spoken with her mother who confirmed that she would be able to visit her daughter on Sunday.

The woman is employed as an instructor at Mariestad’s public swimming pool and 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, rousing suspicions that she had been abducted.

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

TT/The Local/pvs

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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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