Five Cameroonian athletes have gone missing during Gold Coast 2018 ©Getty Images

Cameroon has made a formal complaint to the Australian police after five athletes from the nation competing at the Commonwealth Games went missing.

According to reports, weightlifter Olivier Matam and boxers Ndzie Tchoyi and Simplice Fotsala failed to show up for their competitions.

Team manager Victor Agbor Nso told Cameroonian state media that two other weightlifters, Aka Angeline Filji and Mikoumba Petit David, had gone missing earlier.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief executive David Grevemberg said they had not currently breached any visa rules.

Grevemberg warned, however, that they would take the matter "very seriously" if they were found to have broken the regulations.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton had issued a warning to athletes in the lead-up to the Games not to overstay the visas they were issued to compete.

Dutton sought to remind athletes that there were "penalties for those who do the wrong thing".

Grevemberg admitted it was "disappointing" that the competitors had failed to show for their events but insisted it was remained a matter for the Cameroon team at this stage.

"I think it is also important to remember that these athletes are guests here in Australia and are still within their visas and have the right to travel freely," he said.

"But this is obviously an issue that Team Cameroon is monitoring very, very closely until it becomes a real issue in terms of visas and so forth, then we would obviously have to treat it very seriously."

Commonwealth Gamesf Federation chief executive David Grevemberg, right, claimed they were monitoring the issue after it was reported that five athletes from Cameroon had gone missing ©ITG
Commonwealth Gamesf Federation chief executive David Grevemberg, right, claimed they were monitoring the issue after it was reported that five athletes from Cameroon had gone missing ©ITG

Gold Coast 2018 chairman Peter Beattie conceded that athletes going missing was "not a surprise" as it happens at every Games.

"Frankly, the bottom line is it happens regularly within Australia, there is a mechanism in place to deal with it and I don’t get too excited by this because, frankly, I know there is a system to deal with it," he added.

The development echoes a similar situation involving the Cameroon team at the 2012 Olympics in London, where seven athletes from the African nation went missing.

Five boxers, a swimmer and football player absconded from the Athletes' Village at the Games.

They were reported to be staying in Europe for economic reasons rather than returning home.

Ugandan athletes were also warned against vanishing during Gold Coast 2018 in the lead-up to the event.

Two Ugandan rugby sevens players, Benon Kizza and Philip Pariyo, went missing after Glasgow 2014.

They were reportedly seen working at a car wash in Cumbernauld, a town 14 miles to the north-east of Glasgow, but were later found living at a hostel for asylum seekers in Cardiff.