Kadir Cesur / Gazete Duvar
The body of university student Rojin Kabaiş was found on the shore of Lake Van in eastern Turkey 21 days after disappearing, on Oct. 14.
Rojin Kabaiş, a 21-year-old first-year student in Van, had arrived in Van from the southeastern Diyarbakır after enrolling at the university and moved into her dormitory on September 25.
On September 27, after having dinner at the dormitory, Kabaiş left to go to the shore of Lake Van. Security camera footage showed her wearing sweatpants and using her phone as she passed through the turnstile.
Sixteen days into the search, with efforts by the local police department, gendarmerie, coast guard, AFAD, firefighters, the Red Crescent, and volunteer search teams ongoing, a report of a body in the Mollakasım neighborhood of Tuşba district, prompted teams to be dispatched to the area. The body was identified as Rojin Kabaiş.
According to eyewitnesses, Kabaiş’s body was first spotted by a local resident at the beach of Gül Living Community, an area of summer homes. Police notified the relatives of Kabaiş saying a “piece of clothing” had been found and taken to the Mollakasım shore. Shortly after, the Ministry of Interior announced that Kabaiş’s body had been found.
Authorities secured the Mollakasım shoreline where the body was discovered. After an initial examination by the prosecutor, the body was transported to the Van forensic medicine institute. At the institute, Rojin Kabaiş’s father fainted, and an ambulance on-site provided assistance.
The distance between the Van YYÜ shore, where Kabaiş was last seen, and Mollakasım, where her body was found, is approximately 25 kilometers. Between these two points lies Çarpanak Island and an extended peninsula. Some experts involved in the search speculated that the body could not have traveled such a distance or crossed the peninsula.
The autopsy process was expected to continue late into the night.
Family members indicated that after the autopsy, Kabaiş’s body would be taken to Diyarbakır for burial.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted a statement on social media, saying, “Unfortunately, the body of university student Rojin Kabaiş, who left her dormitory in Van on Friday, September 27, 2024, and had been missing for 18 days, was found by our teams on the shore of Mollakasım Village in Lake Van. May God have mercy on Rojin, and I extend my condolences to her family, loved ones, and our nation.”
(English version by Ayşenaz Toptaş)
