Hiannick Kamba, Schalke 04’s Ex-player appears alive 4 years after ‘his death’
For four years, it was believed in Germany that Hiannick Kamba, a former youth player of Schalke 04, had died in a car accident in Congo. But according to the German tabloid newspaper Bild, this is not true.
What a crazy story from the Ruhr area. On 9 January 2016, Evonik, the former employer of Hiannick Kamba and his former club VfB Hüls shared an intriguing message. Kamba – a footballer who was trained at Schalke 04 and in the youth series, was still a teammate of Manuel Neuer, but in the end, could not breakthrough at the highest level – was killed in Congo.
Evonik even distributed an obituary, and the renowned soccer website Transfermarkt.com reported until yesterday that Hiannick Kamba had died four years ago at the age of 29, but has since changed it again. Rightly so, according to Bild.
The German newspaper released the story yesterday about the fake death of Kamba. And Bild also reports in the same article that the Public Prosecution Service in Essen launched an investigation into insurance fraud.
The German newspaper yesterday brought out the story about Kamba’s fake death. And in the same article Bild reports that the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Essen started an investigation into insurance fraud.
Not against Hiannick Kamba himself, but his ex-wife. “The suspect has been charged with fraud. But she denies everything. The procedure is still ongoing,” said Chief Prosecutor Anette Milk. After Kamba’s alleged death in 2016, the surviving relative of the ex-right-back would have received a “six-figure amount” from an insurance policy.
Not justified, according to Bild, because Kamba is reportedly already living in the Ruhr area again. There he would even perform his old job back. Early 2018, the man is said to have already contacted the German embassy in Kinshasa to report that the stories about his death were incorrect.
“He stated that in January 2016, while traveling through the interior of the Congo, he was left overnight by his escorts and without papers, money, or telephone,” said Milk.
In 1996 Hiannick Kamba fled with his parents from Congo to Germany (Essen). However, in 2005 his parents were sent back to the African country, and Kamba himself would follow, but because Schalke gave him a contract, the defender was allowed to stay in Germany.
The story is reminiscent of that about José Manuel Fuente. The Spanish ex-cyclist died in 1996, and he was also buried in Oviedo. But in 2003, seven years later, Lucien Van Impe of all people received a strange phone call from a man who claimed to be Fuente. Van Impe went out to dinner with him and became convinced himself: the person sitting at his table looked like two drops of water on his old rival and could still pick up all the old anecdotes.