Cameroon say eight of their 42-strong Commonwealth Games team are missing, with one boxer's failure to appear at an event gifting his Canadian rival a medal.
After initial reports of five athletes unaccounted for, Cameroon's chef de mission Victor Agbo Nso confirmed on Wednesday the number had grown to eight.
The missing group comprises five boxers and three weightlifters, with two of the athletes not bothering to turn up to compete.
One who failed to appear was Ulrich Rodrigue Yombo who skipped Wednesday morning's weigh-in for his quarter-final bout in the 81kg division against Canada's Harley O'Reilly.
Yombo's disappearance means O'Reilly advances to the semi-final and will at least receive a bronze medal.
Adding to the confusion of the situation, a Cameroon official told reporters at the Games boxing venue none of his athletes were missing.
"No, no, no. They are here," he said. "Come in the village, come see them."
Cameroon's last remaining boxer, Dieudonne Wilfried Seyi Ntsengue, on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals in the 75kg division with a unanimous points victory over New Zealand's Ryan Scaife.
The flamboyant African champion celebrated his victory with a cartwheel and backflip but declined to comment on his teammates, insisting he could only answer questions in French.
Nso said the first three athletes left on Sunday night, with two others declared missing on Monday and a further three leaving the village on Tuesday night.
"These athletes ... were part of a team that had a training camp in Warwick before getting to (the) Gold Coast," he said in a statement.
"But out here, only six of them effectively took part in their respective competitions, while two left without competing."
The other missing athletes are boxers Christian Ndzie Tchoyi, Simplice Fotsala, Christelle Ndiang and Arsene Fokou and weightlifters Oliver Heracles Matam Matam, Petit David Minkoumba and Arcangeline Sonkbou Fouodji.
Nso said team officials had notified Australian police.
It is not the first time Cameroonian athletes have disappeared at a major sporting event.
In 2012, five male boxers, a female footballer and a male swimmer absconded from the London Olympic village. Games organising committee chairman Peter Beattie said as things stood, none of the athletes had breached Australian law.
"This happens at every games, it's no surprise ... if there is a breach (of visa) Peter Dutton and his team will deal with it," Beattie said.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg said his organisation was monitoring the situation but until the missing Cameroonians broke Australian law it was a matter for them and their team officials.
"It's obviously disappointing that some of the athletes that have come, didn't compete," Grevemberg said.
"Until it becomes a real issue in terms of visas and so forth we would obviously need to take that very seriously but right now it's a safety and welfare issue for those athletes from a Team Cameroon perspective."
The nation's two other weightlifters and men's basketball team had left Australia and were en route to Cameroon, team officials said.