“Neither suicide nor murder”, assure Turkish authorities following the death of Pilar Victoria, the former volleyball player from Béziers

Les résultats de l’autopsie du corps de la jeune femme de 28 ans devraient être connus dans les jours à venir Béziers volley

The cause of death of the former Béziers player, who died on August 29 in Turkey, remains unclear.

Her black and white portrait is framed in the entrance to the hall of Nilufer Belediyespor, her last club. Pilar Victoria, a player for Béziers Volley last year, died on August 29 in this club in Bursa, the fourth largest Turkish city. The 28-year-old Puerto Rican had only arrived three weeks before she was found unconscious on her bed.

“She was someone who was really determined, with real strength of character,” testified Kenan Dastan, the club's manager, in the parking lot of the hall where a ceremony was held in tribute to the player, on September 2.

The team is upset

Her teammates gathered at her coffin, in the middle of the court, before her body was sent to Puerto Rico for burial, nearly 10,000 kilometers away. “Her loved ones were very present. They made the trip here, reports Haluk Korkmaz, the coach. She really had a beautiful family, very strong."

This summer, Pilar Victoria had joined Turkey with Julia Szczurowska, who also played in Béziers. “It's really hard for the team, but especially for her. She's destroyed”, the Turkish coach explains. The Polish player lived in the same building as the deceased, allocated to the three foreigners on the team. She shared Pilar Victoria's last meal, the night she died.
The player, like her teammates, tries to cope in the privacy of the locker room. At training time, they all return to the room without a word, visibly shaken. “We try to stay among ourselves, to stick together, the Turkish coach emphasizes. We are very sad, it was a shock for us."

False information

Haluk Korkmaz is keen to preserve his group. According to him, false information has come out in the Turkish press about the death of Pilar Victoria. Some newspapers talk about pancreatic bleeding, and explain that she may have died of food poisoning, based on the preliminary autopsy report. This information should be placed in the conditional, denied by the club, which retorts that Julia Szczurowska had eaten the same thing as her.

“We are absolutely sure of nothing”

The media also talk about sleeping pills that she was taking because of adaptation problems, or even two painkillers that she allegedly ingested when she returned home the night of her death. “That's not true, we're absolutely not sure of anything, emphasizes Haluk Korkmaz. We have asked the court but the full autopsy report has not yet been released." According to the police investigation, it was not a suicide or murder.

A room in her name

The former Béziers player spent around twenty days at her new club, giving her time to make her mark. The Nilufer Beledisyespor coach praises her state of mind. “She was always positive. She was a great player, very experienced. She must have been one of the most important players in the team.”

Nilufer is one of the districts of Bursa, located 20 minutes from the center of this former Ottoman capital, a dynamic, industrial and tourist city, with important mosques.
This is where Pilar Victoria's life ended. As a tribute, a room in the club will bear her name, so that no one forgets her smile.

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