Search for two missing 12-year-old girls in Russia stretches into fifth day as drowning emerges as leading theory

Two 12-year-old girls in Kyzyl left home on the evening of July 1 and never returned. Surveillance cameras captured them walking toward the Yenisei River embankment and a dam. Their whereabouts after that are unknown. Police, Emergency Situations Ministry personnel, dog handlers, a paddleboard team, divers, and more than 700 volunteers have joined the search.

On the morning of July 2, searchers found the girls’ mobile phones on the bank of the Yenisei. Later that day, a sandal belonging to one of the girls was found in the water 300 to 400 meters (980 to 1,310 feet) away. On July 5, volunteers found a Crocs sandal belonging to the second girl roughly a meter (3 feet) from the water’s edge, in an area between the villages of Sukpak and Ust-Elegest in the Kyzyl district.

Russia’s federal Investigative Committee opened a criminal case without specifying the charge and stated it was pursuing three theories: the children may have drowned, died by suicide, or fallen victim to a crime. Tuva Interior Minister Yury Zavyalov said that “the main theory is still that the girls may have drowned.” On July 6, the search area was expanded to the Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir and then to the city of Shagonar, more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Kyzyl.

On the evening of July 5, a group of volunteers and local residents tried to get into a private home in Kyzyl. The Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported that a tip from a “clairvoyant” had spread through search chats claiming the missing girls might be inside. Residents pelted the home — where a family with young children lives — with stones. Police and the Russian National Guard responded, including the head of the republic’s Interior Ministry. Clashes broke out between security forces and residents. The Interior Ministry announced it had opened a criminal case on hooliganism charges. A search of the home found no trace of the missing girls.

The head of the republic, Vladislav Khovalyg, urged residents to “remain calm and trust official sources of information” and warned that “stirring up the situation could lead to serious consequences.”