Cengaver Katrancı^[1] (1964 – October 30, 1972)^[2] was aTurkish boy, who lived inWest Berlin, in district ofKreuzberg. He drowned in the riverSpree, which at the time and in this place was a border betweenEast and West Berlin. In view of the circumstances surrounding the accident Cengaver Katrancı is one of the youngest victims of theBerlin Wall's existence.^[3]

On 30 October 1972, at approximately 13:00,^[2][4] eight-year-old Cengaver Katrancı, together with a friend, were feeding swans on the River Spree (Gröbenufer street,^[2] currently May-Ayim-Ufer). Katrancı lost his balance and fell into the river, which was, at this section, part of theFriedrichshain district ofEast Berlin.^[2] A fisherman was present, but offered no assistance for fear that doing so would be treated as a violation of theGDR border and, therefore, the East German guards could shoot him.^[5] A West Berlin fire department, including two divers, was alerted, but could not intervene after they unsuccessfully attempted to obtain permission for the entry into the river.^[4] An East German fire boat and a tanker were also present, but did not take the rescue operation.^[4] Despite people on the west side crying out to them for help, they also chose not to violate the forbidden zone without permission to get close to the western waterfront. Approx 13:30 West Berlin police car arrived.^[4] Following negotiations with the border guard officer atOberbaum Bridge, around 14:30, an East German rescue boat began searching for the boy.^[5] About half an hour later his body was taken out of water.^[2]

That evening the boy's mother received an entry permit for East Berlin in order to receive his body. Identifying remains was performed at the Institute of Forensic MedicineCharité. In accordance with the wishes of his mother, Cengaver Katrancı was buried inAnkara, inTurkey.^[2] He had three siblings.^[4]

Cengaver Katrancı was a second of the five children (first 6 year old Andreas Senk),^[6] who died in similar circumstances in the same place or nearby. The remaining three children: 5 year old Siegfried Kroboth, 6 year old Giuseppe Savoca and 5 year old Çetin Mert.^[3][7]

After this accident, West Berlin Senate has taken the negotiations with the GDR with the result, that in 1975 entered into force the treaty between the two German countries on cooperation in rescue operations at boundary waters.^[2][4]

• List of deaths at the Berlin Wall
• Berlin Crisis of 1961

• Deaths at the Berlin Wall
• German people of Turkish descent
• Turkish children
• 1964 births
• 1972 deaths
• 1970s in Berlin
• Accidental child deaths
• People from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
• Deaths by drowning in Germany
• Child deaths by drowning

• CS1 Turkish-language sources (tr)
• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with hCards