Commonwealth Games athlete 'goes missing in bid to avoid returning to Ebola-hit Sierra Leone' after teammate spends four days in quarantine over fears he'd contracted deadly disease

Cyclist Mohamed Tholley was due to compete in time trial event yesterday

Reports claim he failed to turn up and has absconded to avoid going home

Spokesman denied claims, saying there were no reports of missing athletes



His teammate Moses Sesay, 32, revealed how he was tested for Ebola virus

He was admitted to Glasgow hospital and put in isolation for four days

But he competed in road race time trial yesterday after being given all-clear

Sesay is from Sierra Leone, Africa, where hundreds have died from disease

Ebola is a severe, often fatal illness, with a death rate of up to 90 per cent

A runner from Sierra Leone went missing after this year's London Marathon



Sierra Leone cyclist Mohamed Tholley has reportedly gone missing, days after his teammate was tested for Ebola

An athlete from Sierra Leone's Commonwealth Games team is reported to have gone missing - just days after his teammate was tested for the Ebola virus.

The team's mountain biking champion Mohamed Tholley was due to compete in the time trial event in Glasgow yesterday but allegedly failed to turn up.

According to a report in the Telegraph newspaper, Unisa Deen Kargbo, chef de mission of the Sierra Leone team, said Mr Tholley may have gone missing to avoid having to fly home and face the disease.

He said: 'Unfortunately one of our athletes has not turned up for his event and we do not know where he is. It is possible he is not coming back.

'The situation is very serious at home, and it is possible this is why he does not want to return. It is very bad there.'



But Jackie Brock-Doyle, a spokeswoman for Glasgow 2014, denied the claims at a press briefing this morning.

She said: 'We have not had a single report of any athlete that has gone missing.

'If someone didn't turn up and they had gone missing, they would have reported it to us.

'If athletes have gone missing and their chef de missions are concerned they will talk to us and let us know.'

It comes after a fellow Sierra Leone athlete at the Games revealed he was hospitalised and put into isolation for four days while he was tested for the deadly Ebola virus.

Cyclist Moses Sesay, from Sierra Leone in West Africa where hundreds are reported to have died from the flesh-eating virus, was admitted to hospital in Glasgow after feeling unwell and developing fever-like symptoms.

However, he was later given the all-clear and yesterday competed in the road race time trial.



Last night, the 32-year-old said he and other athletes were scared of returning home because of Ebola and would try to remain in Britain until their special three-month visas for the Games expired.

Mr Sesay, who comes from the Rotifunk Moyamba area of Sierra Leone which has been hit by the disease, said: ‘I was sick, I felt tired and listless. All the doctors were in special suits to treat me – they dressed like I had Ebola. I was very scared.’

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he continued: ‘I was admitted for four days and they tested me for Ebola.

'It came back negative but they did it again and this time sent it to London where it was also negative.’

In action: Moses Sesay is pictured during the road race time trial at the Commonwealth Games

After this year's London marathon, a runner from Sierra Leone, 24-year-old Mami Konneh Lahun, went missing after finishing the race in 20th place.



She failed to turn up at an airport when she was due to fly home, but police later found her safe and well.



MailOnline tried to contact several representatives of the Sierra Leone team but none were available for comment.



Mr Sesay, a father of one, who competed in the Games on his 32nd birthday, finished last in his race.

He had arrived in Glasgow among a team of two dozen competitors and officials the week before the Games and felt unwell last Thursday, the day after he attended the Opening Ceremony.

‘All of us are scared about going back,' he said. 'We have a three-month visa in our passports and if I have the opportunity, I will stay here until it ends.

‘It is scary over there. My mother is a medical nurse so she may have to treat people. My wife is also doing work in the medical field.’

A West African official last night also denied that another member of the team had gone missing or that others had been hospitalised.

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Deadly: Medics carry a young girl who has been in contact with people infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone

He said that officials in Glasgow were in contact with the High Commission in London over the timing of the team’s return and that they still planned to take part in the Closing Ceremony on Sunday.

No special precautions had been taken inside the athlete’s village and they were sharing facilities with other teams, he added.



It is the second Commonwealth Games that Mr Sesay, who trains in South Africa, has attended having competed in Delhi, India, four years ago.

Officials stressed there had been no positive tests for Ebola in Scotland but refused to comment on negative tests.

Ebola is a severe, often fatal illness, that affects humans as well as primates, including monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees.

The virus is transmitted through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals

Once a person becomes infected, the disease can spread through contact with a sufferer's blood, urine, saliva, stools and semen.



The Ebola virus is fatal in 90 per cent of cases and there is no vaccine and no known cure.