Man's body found during search for missing Amsterdam Univ. student

A search team working on the disappearance of a pregnant University of Amsterdam student found the body of a dead man in the course of their latest probe. The team was combing the Robbenoordbos, a forest near Wieringerwerf, on Tuesday hunting for clues in the case of Sumanta Bansi, a young woman from Suriname who went missing in February 2018.

Police in Noord-Holland confirmed the grizzly discovery on Tuesday night. The identity of the victim and his cause of death were unknown.

The body was found in the water by the Zuiderdijkweg. The surrounding area was closed off to the public while police carried out an investigation into the male victim.

The nonprofit organization Veteranen Search Team carried out the mission. They organize volunteers with military and police experience to carry out scattered searches in a structural manner, according to the group’s website.

Assistance from the police was requested at the scene at around 5:30 p.m.

Sumanta Bansi was nine weeks pregnant when her phone was last in use, at around 9:45 p.m. on February 18, 2018. She has not been heard from since that time, and her social media accounts and bank accounts have registered no activity.

Neither the university, the dental office where she interned, her family back home nor her host family in the Netherlands reported her missing to authorities until November of that year.

Police also did not announce the missing person’s case to the public until a half-year later. Around the same time, a 15 thousand euro reward was announced for any information that ultimately solves the case.

The Robbenoordbos has been searched previously in the Bansi case, as well as the water around the Breeezanddijk and Afsluitdijk between Noord-Holland and Friesland.