18th day of search of 13-year-old boy from Svaneti: 38 villages, 7 rivers checked

Rescuers have checked 38 villages and seven rivers in the search for 13-year-old Ilia Pilpani from the Svaneti region of western Georgia who went missing on July 18. 

About 80 rescuers, police divisions, drones, boats and a helicopter of Georgia’s border police have been involved in the search operation for the minor, head of Georgia’s Emergency Management Service Teimuraz Mgebrishvili stated earlier today. 

Mgebrishvili stated that messages have been sent to the mobile phones of Georgian citizens with the photo of the boy to help find him. 

Pilpani, who is a citizen of Kazakhstan, left his home in Lenjeri village of Mestia municipality on a bicycle.

He doesn't speak Georgian. He came on vacation with his father’s relatives to Svaneti in the winter and was unable to return back to Kazakhstan due to the pandemic. 

The rocky and wooden landscape in the vicinity of the area where the boy went missing has complicated the search, conducted by professionals as well as locals.