Pakistani swimmer goes missing in Hungary.

KARACHI -- Pakistan's talented young swimmer and four-time national gold medalist Faizan Akbar mysteriously went missing in Hungary just hours after arriving last week to compete in the 19th FINA World Championships, which are currently underway.

According to reliable sources, the 22-year-old Gujar Khan-born swimmer decided to rest at a hotel after arriving in Budapest and then vanished.

A reliable source close to the situation told this correspondent that his roommate, who had come down for breakfast, had called Faizan and asked him to join. Faizan said he'd be there, but didn't show up. He had checked out of the hotel.Sources said that Faizan disappeared from the scene after taking his necessary belongings and left his Pakistan shirt at the hotel room.

Faizan was set to feature in 100m backstrokes on June 19, but missed the event.

Faizan belongs to a highly respectable department which he joined in 2017. His brother Zeeshan Akbar is also a swimmer of the same department whose name is not being disclosed. Zeeshan was also part of Pakistan's 4x200 meter freestyle relay team which took bronze in the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal.

This correspondent learned that when Faizan's department was informed about the incident by Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF) through a letter, it took every step to inform Pakistan's embassy in Hungary, the local police and other relevant wings in order to find the swimmer. However, so far no success has been achieved.

Sources said that having a Schengen visa, Faizan might have entered some other European country. In the wake of the incident, Faizan's name was dropped by his parent...