Two of the six teen members of a robotics team from Burundi who disappeared after an international competition in Washington, D.C., were seen crossing into Canada, police confirmed Thursday.
"We don't have an update on the whereabouts (of the others), but we have no indication that there was foul play," police spokeswoman Margarita Mikhaylova told USA TODAY. She said the investigation was continuing.
The teenagers were competing in the FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition and were reported missing Wednesday, according to police documents. The competition drew teams from more than 150 nations.
Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Trump, attended part of the three-day event Tuesday.
The Burundi teens, all of whom have one-year visas, were last seen Tuesday night after the competition concluded, police said. Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, and Don Ingabire, 16, were seen entering Canada at some point since then, but police do not know when, Mikhaylova said.
The other students are Aristide Irambona, 18, Nice Munezero, 17, Kevin Sabumukiza, 17, and Richard Irakoze, 18.
A spokesman for the East African nation's embassy in Washington declined to comment on the situation.
FIRST Global issued a statement saying its president, Joe Sestak, notified police the youths were missing after the adult mentor for Team Burundi discovered they were missing Tuesday night.
The group said there were indications the students’ absence may have been "self-initiated" — they had packed their bags and left the keys to their dorm rooms at Trinity Washington University in their mentor's bag.
The competition drew national attention a week ago when a team of six girls from Afghanistan was twice rejected for U.S. visas. They arrived in Washington from their hometown of Herat, Afghanistan, early Saturday after President Trump intervened at the last minute.
FIRST Global described the competition on its website as an international robotics event where students from nearly 160 nations came to Washington to participate in the first of what will be an annual event.
Teams are composed of high school students with the goal of "igniting a passion" in students to become the next generation of scientific leaders "who will work together to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems."
This year, the teens were given engineering tasks such as storing of drinkable water, filtering contaminated water and procuring of new sources water.
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