Partial drain at Memi Lake to go forward

Divers can expect a less difficult task at Memi Lake in the search for little Sierra, following a decision by the Water Development Department to allow a partial drain to lower the water level.

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According to Fire Department Operations Chief Marcos Trangolas, the WDD has given its permission to partially drain Memi Lake, Xiliatos reservoir in rural Nicosia, essentially lowering the water level to a point for easier access to search areas.

Trangolas, who has been overseeing the search for other slain victims for almost two months, told reporters last week that if the water level at Memi Lake could go down by five metres, this could help divers in their difficult task.

The WDD reportedly was opposed to the idea initially, saying draining Memi Lake came with environmental risks. But the final decision was made after scientific results from water samples are made known by the state chemist, citing no evidence that the water could be harmful.

Divers and robotic cameras are currentyly searching for the body of six-year-old Sierra Graze Seucalliuc, after alleged serial killer Nikos Metaxas reportedly told crime investigators he dumped the little girl’s body at the lake. The suspect, a Greek Cypriot army captain also known as Orestis, reportedly confessed to killing Sierra as well as six other foreign females, whose bodies have been recovered in rural Nicosia.

Crime investigators Sierra lies in a watery grave at Memi Lake, making the little girl the last body set to be found in the case. Her mother, 38-year-old Filipina Marry Rose Tiburcio, was the first slain victim to be discovered in the case, inside a flooded mine shaft in Mitseros, some eight miles east of Memi.

Private forensic pathologist Marios Matsaskis, an outspoken critic of local authorities handling the case, had previously called for both lakes to be completely drained.

Matsakis said the search at the red lake, which has been officially declared complete by Trangolas, should have been handled differently from the beginning, calling for the water to be drained so that police could ascertain whether more bodies or other evidence of criminal activity could be found.