DPS stops Luhks search operation with volunteers

The Department of Public Safety has stopped conducting search operations with volunteers over the weekend even as “Operation Hope” continues to be frustrated by the lack of leads in the disappearance of sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk.

“There’s no new updates from DPS at this time,” press secretary Angel Demapan told Saipan Tribune Sunday night.

Demapan said DPS had already conducted search operations with hundreds of volunteers in previous weeks in an effort to comb the island to locate the missing Luhk sisters.

“Given that such shoulder-to-shoulder operations did not turn up the results we had hoped for, the department must now recalibrate its efforts in order to function with its available resources,” he said.

He said the Fitial administration and DPS assures the public that authorities will continue to work on the case without leaving any leads behind. He said DPS continues to investigate all persons and places of interest.

However, Demapan said, to prevent jeopardizing ongoing investigations, details cannot be made public at this time.

“Nonetheless, we continue to encourage anyone with information that may shed some light in this case to contact the police or the Crime Stoppers’ hotline,” he added.

Meanwhile, Demapan confirmed the existence of the Liyan Falngun Hanom Cave in Marpi but he did not disclose whether searchers had already checked that cave.

David Weary, a geologist from the U.S. Geological Survey, on Friday cautioned searchers from entering the Liyan Falngun Hanom Cave because of its high levels of carbon dioxide gas.

In another e-mail to Saipan Tribune yesterday, Weary suggested not publishing specific directions to this cave as the caving community and federal agencies discourage the publication of exact cave locations.

“This is to keep untrained people from going to caves and hurting themselves and/or the organisms that live in caves,” Weary said.

The geologist said Liyan Falngun Hanom Cave, which is located on a private property, may also be known as “Mermaid Cave” as it has a large wooden carving of a mermaid outside of its entrance.

“The cave is reported to extend about 900 feet southeastward from the entrance. It will be completely dark after a few hundred feet or so in. I don’t know what the depth is, but probably comparable to Kalabera Cave,” Weary said.

The geologist, who visited Saipan in 2006, warned searchers about Hanom Cave, known by cavers simply as “Bad Air Cave,” after reading Saipan Tribune’s story about the search being conducted by fire personnel at the Kalabera Cave on Wednesday.