Turkey deploys base stations to locate missing hikers
BURSA – Demirören News Agency
Turkish authorities have deployed portable Global System for Mobile Systems (GSM) base stations to locate two hikers who went missing near the northwest province’s famous Mt. Uludağ peak, local authorities have said.
“Campsites were checked, and no hotel reservations in their names were found,” said a statement by Bursa governor’s office, adding that the last signals from Efe Sarp and Mert Alpaslan’s phones were sent at 9 a.m. and 2:24 p.m., respectively, on Dec. 1 in the Yenişehir district.
A search and rescue team of 178 personnel and gendarmerie reconnaissance aircraft are combing the region, the statement on Dec. 3 added.
Base stations of private wireless communications operators Vodafone and Turkcell were deployed in the region to conduct technical surveillance of the hikers’ mobile phones, according to the statement.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, snow motorcycles and crawlers are also being used in the search efforts.
“Footprints have been detected in the Saklıgöl area, but we are not sure if they are left by them. Search and rescue teams have been following those footprints,” said Fatih Işık, head of Nilüfer Search and Rescue (NAK) volunteer group.
Sarp, 37, and Alpaslan, 31, went missing in the evening on Dec. 1 due to heavy fog.
The families of the hikers contacted the gendarmerie when they could not reach their sons.
No map or document showing the route of the hikers were found in the car the hikers parked near the gendarmerie station.
The snow depth has reached about one meter, and the lowest temperature is around -10 degrees Celsius, locals reported on Dec. 4.
