Former Schalke player Hiannick Kamba has reportedly been found alive and well in Germany, four years after his death.
The right-back was understood to have died in a car crash in his native Congo in January 2016.
However, German publication Bild now reports that Kamba - now aged 33 - has been spotted working in Ruhr. An investigation has now been launched.
"Kamba claims he was abandoned by friends overnight in Congo in January 2016 and left without documents, money and a cell phone," public prosecutor Anette Milk is quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The report continues that Kamba's wife received a payout on her husband's life insurance, understood to be in the region of "low six figures" when he was pronounced dead.
At the time, his club, eighth-tier side VfB Huls, published an obituary.
Kamba, who played alongside Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer while at Schalke, still reportedly lives in the Gelsenkirchen area.
