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Kaieteur Falls tragedy… Body recovered, flown to city
Aliya Bulkan
The agonizing wait is over for the relatives of Aliya Bulkan who plunged to her death from a cliff at the Kaieteur Falls last Saturday.
The 23-year old’s body, which is reportedly still in good shape was yesterday recovered just before 14:00 hours (2 pm) and flown to the city.
The body was spotted at the base of the falls by a search team as early as Monday but because of the remoteness of the spot where it was, there was an initial problem in retrieving it.
This led to the involvement of ranks from the Guyana Defence Force.
A release from the GDF stated that troops from 31 Special Forces recovered the body of Aliya Bulkan from the rugged terrain of the Kaieteur Gorge.
According to the release, the troops, comprising two Officers and 12 ranks, aided by three civilians inclusive of one family member, recovered the body at about 13:45 hours. The remains were placed in a body bag and tied to a stretcher which was then hoisted to the top of the falls from where it was dispatched at about 15:05 hours to Ogle Airport.
The recovery party had arrived at the falls on Monday, at 09:00 hours, and after a preliminary assessment of where the body could have landed, they began the recovery effort.
Their search along the escarpment led them to the Amerindian village of Tukeit where a command post was established.
The body was sighted from the top of the falls and this information was passed to the recovery team at the bottom.
The recovery efforts were thwarted by the particularly difficult terrain in the Gorge.
However, the recovery team continued, using another route and further civilian expertise, which led to the eventual recovery of the body today.
There are reports that an initial attempt on Wednesday had to be aborted because of the danger the effort posed to some members of the search team.
Captain Gerry Gouveia, a top local aviation specialist who is familiar with the falls and some of its surrounding areas told this newspaper in an invited comment that while it took some time to retrieve Bulkan’s body, the efforts of the GDF Special Forces and their civilian accompaniment must be highly commended.
He said he had no doubt that once the troops had committed themselves, he was confident that they would have recovered the body. According to Captain Gouveia, in the absence of the GDF helicopter for the recovery, it took an ingenious initiative on the part of the dead woman’s father and other relatives who were also a part of the recovery process to make it a success.
He explained that about 800 feet of rope was used to make the recovery of the body possible.
“There was no chopper. This was done by share innovation by the father and Yacoob Ally. They actually dropped a rope from the top. Knowing that they would not have had the helicopter from before, they came up with a very innovative way to do it. The father was very determined to recover his daughter’s body. It was a strong indication of a father’s love for his daughter,” Captain Gouveia said.
He explained that while releasing the rope to the bottom of the 700-foot drop was easy, the actual recovery was very challenging, since the GDF ranks risked their lives to complete the task.
“We really need to congratulate them,” Gouviea said. Yesterday family members gathered at the Sandy’s Funeral Home consoling each other.
However they declined to comment, claiming that it was not an appropriate time to speak to the media.
A post mortem examination will be performed on Bulkan’s remains today.
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