Swedish journalist’s mysterious disappearance in Denmark

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is counting on the Danish authorities to quickly shed light on Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall’s disappearance in Denmark after embarking on a home-made submarine with its creator.

Normally based in New York and Beijing, Wall, 30, has worked for the New York Times, the Guardian and Libé. To do a story about Danish inventor Peter Madsen, she set off with him in the Nautilus, the world’s biggest home-made submarine, on the evening of 10 August and never came back.

Madsen was rescued when the Nautilus sank the next day but there was no sign of Wall. After failing to account satisfactorily for her disappearance, he was arrested on a manslaughter charge on 12 August.

RSF welcomes the determination with which the Danish authorities are looking for Wall and hopes they will quickly establish whether her disappearance was directly linked to her work as a journalist

Ranked 4th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2017 index, Denmark’s record on respect for press freedom is one of the best in the world.