Third day of search for missing young man from Gornja Bitinja near Strpce

The search for a twenty-nine-year-old man, G.K., from the village of Gornja Bitinja in the Strpce municipality has been ongoing for the third day. G.K. was last seen on Friday, May 12, when he left home to go to the nearby hill to pick primroses.

The search started again this morning in the Simanovce hamlet, where the young man lives. In addition to the police, local residents, and local associations, members of the Kosovo Security Forces are also participating in the search, using quad bikes to search the terrain. Members of the Kosovo Forest Search and Rescue Service are also involved.

G.K.'s daughter-in-law, Jelena Kocic, emphasized that when they realized he hadn't returned, they reported the case to the Strpce Police Station in the evening, after which the search for him began.

"He went to pick primroses, and he was supposed to come back by 6 p.m. to sell them, but he didn't return. We called our relative Novica and told him that Goran hadn't come back, and he said he would check his weekend house. We waited for another hour and a half, and since Novica didn't see him either, we decided to call the police. The police arrived, and his brothers immediately started the search, as well as my sons. It's already the third day, and we haven't found him," Jelena said.

She added that this wasn't his first time going to pick medicinal herbs, as he had been doing it for years.

Sinisa Buduric, the Director of Public Services of the Strpce Municipality, stated that the search for the young man has been ongoing for three days, and so far, the area around the young man's house and the areas of Gornja Bitinja, Susice, and Berevce have been searched. Currently, they are searching locations in the area of Kostanjevo.

"We have been searching for him continuously for three days. The police, local authorities, the Fire Department of the Strpce, the Forestry Unit of the Strpce municipality, members of the Mountaineering Association 'Uspon,' the Mountain Rescue Service, the Sector for Emergency Situations, the KSF, and many citizens who have volunteered to search the area are involved in the operation," Buduric emphasized.

According to the family, at the time of his disappearance, the young man was wearing a blue jacket, blue pants, and yellow shoes, and he had a bag and an umbrella in his hands.