Turkish rescue workers have ended their search for survivors in Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison, their leader said Tuesday, after finding no detainees in any hidden cells, Agence France-Presse reported.
Located just north of Damascus, the prison became a symbol of rights abuses under president Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by Islamist-led rebels on December 8.
The search by a 120-member team was conducted at the request of Syria’s new authorities, according to Okay Memiş, director of Turkey’s AFAD disaster relief agency.
“The entire building was searched and analyzed with a scanner, and no living person was found,” Memiş told journalists at the site.
Prisoners held inside the complex, which was the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, were freed early last week by the Islamist-led rebels.
But the complex is thought to descend several levels underground, fueling suspicions that more prisoners could be held in undiscovered hidden cells.
The Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison (ADMSP), however, believes the rumors about hidden cells are unfounded.
The prison complex was thoroughly searched by Syria’s White Helmets emergency workers but they wrapped up their operations on Tuesday, saying they were unable to find any more prisoners.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 100,000 people have died in Syria’s jails and detention centers since 2011, when Syria’s civil war erupted.