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DPS uses boat to search Banzai cliff line
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Posted on Jun 24 2011
The Department of Public Safety searched the cliff line of the Banzai Cliff yesterday using a search and rescue boat but still failed to find a trace of missing sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk.
As this developed, a geologist from the U.S. Geological Survey cautioned searchers yesterday from entering the Liyan Falngun Hanom Cave in Marpi as it is a known “bad air cave” with high levels of carbon dioxide gas.
Press secretary Angel Demapan told Saipan Tribune that a DPS team conducted the search of the cliff lines at Banzai Cliff using a boat.
“To preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigation, the department has no further comment at this time,” Demapan said.
It was not clear how many DPS personnel participated in the search or whether an underwater search was done.
There was no word from DPS if the Liyan Falngun Hanom Cave had already been searched or if it is being targeted for one.
Demapan earlier stated that search operations for the missing sisters will now be driven largely by tips that come in.
On Wednesday, DPS teams searched the Kalabera Cave, the Bird Island cliff line in Marpi, and the Kagman watershed known as Education Island, but still failed to find any trace of the Luhks.
The mysterious disappearance of Luhk sisters in As Teo is now entering its fifth week.
In an e-mail, USGS geologist David Weary said he read Saipan Tribune’s story about the search being conducted by the DPS Fire Division’s Search and Rescue Unit at the Kalabera Cave. Weary said the Liyan Falngun Hanom Cave is located near the Kalabera Cave.
Weary said if DPS personnel search the cave they should take oxygen apparatus with them because of the high levels of carbon dioxide inside it.
Carbon dioxide is toxic in higher concentrations. It will make some people drowsy, cause dizziness, headache, visual and hearing dysfunction, and unconsciousness within a few minutes to an hour.
Weary was on Saipan with another geologist, Bill Burton, for a week in 2006 to revise and update the island’s geologic map as its last one was made by the USGS back in 1956.
