Authorities intensify search for missing girl on 6th day

DIYARBAKIR

Security forces continued their extensive search operation on Aug. 26 for an 8-year-old girl who has been missing in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır for six days.

The incident unfolded on the afternoon of Aug. 21 when Narin Güran did not return home after leaving a course, prompting her family to initiate their own search efforts.

After local villagers' search efforts proved fruitless, Güran’s father reported her disappearance to the local gendarmerie at around 8 p.m.

The ongoing search, which entered its sixth day on Aug. 26, has mobilized gendarmerie units, police, scent-tracking dogs and underwater search teams, with approximately 130 individuals questioned in connection to the case.

This disappearance has quickly captured national attention, with law enforcement conducting extensive searches of over 12,000 vehicles, as well as inspecting a large number of houses.

Additionally, the police scrutinized around 150 vehicles, identified as having passed through the area during the time of Narin's disappearance.

Footage from Aug. 21 around 3:15 p.m., emerged, showing the girl walking with four of her friends before separating and taking a hillside path towards her home.

Late on Aug. 25, police, assisted by two of Güran’s friends, conducted a reenactment at the site where she was last seen, under the supervision of a child psychologist.

The children indicated to the gendarmerie the exact location where they last saw Güran.

During the search on the night of Aug. 22, a child’s slipper was discovered by the roadside, approximately 3 kilometers from the Güran family's home.

Although initially identified by Narin’s parents as belonging to her, it was later determined that the slipper was not hers.

Similarly, bloodstains found on the road were tested and confirmed to be unrelated to the missing girl.

Divers continued their efforts in an irrigation canal where the water level was lowered for the search, extending the search along the 20-kilometer length of the canal starting from the neighborhood.

Despite employing seven tracking dogs and scouring over 11,000 acres of land, no significant breakthroughs have been made in elucidating the circumstances surrounding Güran’s disappearance.