Ukrainian extreme sports enthusiast Yana Kryvosheia, 42, who traveled from Ukraine to Antalya for a mountain holiday, disappeared on May 2. Turkish gendarmerie teams continue to search for the mountaineer, who last made contact with her mother to tell her "I am at the peak!" before vanishing just over 20 days ago.
Kryvosheia arrived in Antalya on May 1 with plans to reach the peak of the towering 1715-meter (5626-foot) Geyik Sivrisi Mountain the next day. Her lawyer Ruslana Pasecınıc said the 42-year-old traveled to the Geyik Sivrisi campsite intending to spend her time climbing.
"I have heard the case from the family of the missing person. I am involved in the process and joined the search with gendarmerie teams. She is a Ukrainian citizen, who came to Antalya for touristic purposes. We have spoken to everyone who could have witnessed the last moments of Kryvosheia, the taxi driver she traveled with told us that there was no problem seen about her," she said.
Everyone in the region is worried about the foreign hiker and many locals from the surrounding villages are assisting in the ongoing search.
Gendarmerie teams contacted the telecommunication company in the region to pinpoint Kryvosheia's phone signal. It was determined that her phone last had signal on May 4 at 2 p.m. The signal was tracked from Manavgat but it was later found that the source of the signal was coming from a base station in the region.
Teams continue to track the woman's phone signal in an attempt to ascertain her coordinates while drone monitoring efforts also continue.
Pasecınıc said she appreciated the great efforts gendarmerie teams and the local community have gone to in looking for the Ukrainian tourist.
"I have witnessed that the teams are doing a great job to find Kryvosheia. In addition to local gendarmeries, a team of 20 came from Ankara yesterday with helicopters. They are scanning the ground. We are pleased with the interest shown by Turkey in the disappearance of a Ukrainian tourist. Even the local people in the surrounding villages participated in the search and help us," she said.