An Australian Olympic team theft during an evacuation for a fire was the latest blow for the Aussie athletes who refused to move in to the Olympic village a week ago, citing plumbing, electrical and cleaning problems.
They began moving in on Wednesday, and a fire in the basement of the building on Friday led to an evacuation, The Associated Press reported. No one was hurt in the incident.
"When you've got 15,000 beds, you've got a lot of people walking around the village … unfortunately, theft is going to be inevitable," Kitty Chiller, the head of the team's delegation, told the AP.
Among the items stolen were a laptop and long-sleeved shirts designed to prevent mosquito bites. Many teams are using similar shirt to protect against Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitos.
The evacuation lasted about 30 minutes and included about 100 team members, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Chiller said she saw what she thought were three firefighters walking out with team shirts after the evacuation.
"I don't know who they were ... I didn't know if they were volunteers that had been given a shirt because they had helped us at that point in time," she said. "It doesn't seem to have been what happened."
A laptop was stolen from a cycling official, and other computer equipment was rifled through but left.
The fire started when a worker tossed a cigarette into piles of trash in the basement, the Morning Herald reported. Fire alarms were deactivated in the building
"It was just, really, of all the 31 buildings, it had to be building 23 after everything that has happened," Chiller said, according to the Morning Herald. "I don't think you could write that script."
Some Twitter users seemed incredulous.
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