Recovery of Bulkan’s body was not as timely as it could have been – Gerry Gouveia

Nov 18, 2009 News

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By Dale Andrews

Head of Roraima Airways Captain Gerry Gouveia believes that the entire operation to recover the body of Kaieteur Falls suicide victim Aliya Bulkan was not as timely as it could have been.
Captain Gouveia, while commending the Guyana Defence Force Special Forces team that eventually recovered the body, was of the opinion that the hiccups that were encountered should have been avoided.
Gouveia said that while the body was eventually recovered, he would have loved to have seen a greater sense of urgency.
He said that it could have been a situation where a person was still alive and the time factor would make a great difference.
According to him, exercises of the nature of the recovery of Aliya’s body require a highly professional response.
It was pointed out that the first attempt to locate the body by the initial unit failed and from all indications the army did not go in with a clear and deliberate mission.
“I don’t think that they understood the importance of recovering this body from Kaieteur Falls.
This was just not recovering anybody; this was the most significant and spectacular suicide event in this history in this century in this region.
This thing captured the imagination of the nation… and we had to respond in a matter of national importance to recover this body,” Gouveia said.
He said that he has been deeply affected by the tragedy, which he reflected, claimed the life of an academically accomplished and creative young woman whose immense potential cannot now be fulfilled.
Gouveia said he shares the sense of loss that the tragedy has inflicted on the Bulkans, whom he described as warm and decent people and loyal Guyanese.
He also described as regrettable the significance of the tragedy.
The Kaieteur Falls, he reminded, is Guyana’s best known historical landmark and tourist attraction, and it is unfortunate that it is now linked to such an occurrence, having offered years of safe, scenic and spectacular attraction to the thousands of visitors who have experienced its splendour.
“As head of a local company that is part of Guyana’s tourism sector and which, moreover, flew the party that included Aliya to the Kaieteur Falls two Saturdays ago, I cannot detach myself from the incident. Roraima and the other companies that offer this service frequently, almost daily, take with the utmost seriousness our responsibility for the safety and security of our clients. The entire Roraima team, and I believe, the rest of the local aviation and tourism sectors, feel a sense of attachment to the tragedy.  In the days that have followed the occurrence, Team Roraima has been closely involved in monitoring the events and efforts associated with the recovery of Aliya’s body,” Gouveia said in a statement issued yesterday.
Speaking from personal experience, Gouveia said that he understands the physical and logistical implications of such a recovery effort, since he was privileged to lead a team of young people, including a woman, that descended to the base of the Kaieteur Falls – on foot – close to the spot where Bulkan’s body was sighted.
“But I don’t believe that the response was timely enough. If you understand that this girl jumped twelve o’clock on Saturday and twelve o’clock on Sunday nothing happened, twelve o’clock on Monday there was still nobody there.”
Gouveia said that the initial recovery team went to the wrong area and by their own admission they continued on a path that led in an opposite direction to where the body was located.
Gouveia described the utterances of the army during Monday’s press conference as mere waffling.
“I don’t understand why such professional officers would want to engage in that type of waffle. It’s obvious that they did not seek the kind of on-the-ground experience that they should have. I don’t think that they had a total appreciation of the gravity of the challenges that faced them in the first instance,” he said.
On Monday, Ronald Bulkan, in praising the Special Forces ranks told the media, “At the initial contact (with the army), the response was unequivocal in the affirmative. Thereafter it was very evident that the mobilization was immediate; there was no delay in the mobilization.”
But it is with the execution of the operation that Gouveia has a problem.
“We have some very brave soldiers, some very brave men and women in our armed forces and it’s obvious that what is needed is leadership. Leadership with the courage and the conviction to get the job done and the objective,” Gouveia emphasised.
He said that the objective was not just to recover the body but to preserve Guyana’s national pride.
However, Gouveia conceded that when the job was finally completed (after the arrival of team leader Captain Sheldon Howell and his men) it was well done.
He said that while he and others had trekked to the bottom of the Kaieteur Falls that mission was totally different from what the army was required to do.
“We went there just to go to the Kaieteur Falls as a symbol in 2001…the difference is that when the GDF went there they went with a mission and that was a dangerous mission.
The grueling trek, on foot, to the spot where Aliya’s body was recovered attests to the quality of our armed forces and we must say so.”

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