Draining of dam reservoir starts to find Gülistan Doku

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The Ministry of Interior has started to drain the Uzunçayır Dam Lake as part of the search for Gülistan Doku (21), a university student who has been missing since January 5.

The ministry on July 6 halted the underwater search for the woman. After meeting with the Doku family on July 17, Minister Süleyman Soylu decided to drain the water around Dinar Bridge, where Gülistan was last seen.

İsmail Çataklı, the deputy minister and the ministry's spokesperson, said that it would take 10 to 15 days to completely drain the water around the bridge. They had carried out underwater search for 180 days with 500 personnel, he added.

"Despite all these efforts, we did not get any results. Be sure that we want to get a result the most, of course, her family also wants it ... But there are examples that a result could not be achieved ... I hope we get a result," he said.

What happened?

University student Gülistan Doku did not return to the Credit and Dormitories (KYK) Women's Dormitory on January 5, 2020. As her roommates could not reach her by phone, they got worried and appealed to the Tunceli Provincial Directorate of Security. Her family was also informed about the issue. The family came to Dersim on January 6 and reported Gülistan Doku missing at the security directorate.

Consulting her friends and tracking the signals of her mobile phone, police officers also examined the city surveillance cameras and found that she got on the university minibus at the bus stop in Atatürk Neighborhood at 11.29. However, even though the city surveillance cameras along the way were examined, it could not be determined where she got off.

The driver of the minibus was identified and summoned to depose. The driver said that the minibus did not enter the university as it was Sunday, the minibus returned empty and he could not remember where Gülistan Doku got off.

It is speculated that Doku got off at Sarı Saltuk Bridge in city center, the only bus stop outside the sight of surveillance cameras (SO/VK)