The body of Osman Taş, an 8-year-old boy who had gone missing on Sunday in the village of Yufkalı, located in the Şemdinli district of Hakkari province (southeastern Turkey), after falling into a stream, was found on Wednesday following four days of an intense search for the child: a tragic outcome that has dashed his family’s hopes of finding him alive.
The boy’s relatives, who had last seen him on Sunday morning near a stream close to the village of Yufkalı, initially launched a search on their own after being unable to contact him. When their efforts yielded no results, they decided to notify the gendarmerie, which led to the immediate deployment of a search operation involving teams from the gendarmerie, AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Agency), firefighters, and medical personnel.
Suspecting that Osman might have fallen into the water, the teams focused their efforts on the stream bed, and underwater search operations were also conducted. A team of six divers from the Provincial Gendarmerie Command of Van Province participated in the operation, as well as the JAK (Gendarmerie Search and Rescue Group), divers from the Van Police, and AFAD diving teams, who were also supported by local residents.
The boy’s uncle, Sami Taş, had previously stated that his nephew had gone missing around 9:00 a.m. on Sunday: “We don’t know where or how he went missing. We don’t know if he fell into the water, or if a bear or a wolf took him. We only know that the boy is missing. Our assumption is that he fell into the water. We’ve been looking for him for two days, but we haven’t found him. We’re waiting for news,” the relative said on Monday.
The boy’s body was found 300 meters from where he went missing
As search efforts continued, the child’s body was finally located on Wednesday, April 29, in the river about 300 meters from the spot where his disappearance had been reported. After the body was recovered, it was taken to Şemdinli State Hospital, where an autopsy will be performed to confirm the cause of death, according to the Turkish news agency DHA.
Another relative of the missing boy, his uncle Ekrem Taş, thanked everyone involved in the operation for their efforts and work during the four-day search: “As the water level in the stream dropped, he was found near where he fell in the morning. After the prosecutor’s examination, the body will be sent to Van. We will bury him once the autopsy is complete. I thank the teams that participated in the search.”
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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