No signs of missing Kaieteur Falls woman - search resumes today

No signs of missing Kaieteur Falls woman – search resumes today

Sep 03, 2015 News

Missing: Laleta Sivanand

The search operations to find the woman who disappeared on Monday during a trip to the Kaieteur National Park is to be further intensified today according to the Ministry of the Presidency.

The woman has been identified as Laleta Sivanand, who is said to be in her early 40s. Contrary to what the woman had told people on the trip she is neither a doctor nor an environmentalist. In fact her field of employment is Human Resource and she is a former employee of Laparkan and Singer’s.

The search started on the same day that she was discovered missing and according to the Ministry of the Presidency the search party has been expanded to include the Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force who joined the National Parks Commission Rangers on Tuesday.

Reports are that all of the trails in the Park were searched and binoculars were also used to view the area below the falls and along the sides of the gorge. However, up to 18:00hrs last evening there was still no trace of the woman.

As a result of the incident all tours to the KNP continue to be suspended.

The Ministry of the Presidency noted that they continue to treat the matter as a search for a missing person case and remain hopeful that she will be located.

When it was discovered that the woman had gone missing, officials said a search operation was immediately launched but as was expected the terrain is rough and difficult to maneuver.

Yesterday this publication visited the woman’s home at Durban Backlands and spoke to her husband Rabindranauth Sivanand, but he did not wish to say much. He however echoed the sentiments of an elderly woman at the home that it is, “A troubling, worrisome and stressful time for the family.”

He said that he last saw his wife on Tuesday morning, adding that “she left to go out but she did not say where she was going.” He also expressed hope, saying, “I hope that they find her and that she is found alive.”

Reports are that the woman was seen crying and talking on her phone while on the airplane heading to the tourist destination before she started lagging behind and finally disappearing.

When asked if there may have been problems in the home before she left the husband said such information is his private business.

On Tuesday night officials from the Air Services Limited confirmed that one of its aircraft returned to the Ogle Airport with one fewer person than it transported to the world famous waterfalls.

A source told this newspaper that the aircraft left the city around midday with nine passengers for a tour of the Kaieteur Falls.

Among them was Laleta Sivanand.

People on the flight said that the woman was seen crying into a phone while on the plane.

When the aircraft landed at the falls the woman appeared to brighten.

Air Services Limited transported two groups of tourists to the Kaieteur Falls. A spokesperson said that while the pilots were on the ground, no other aircraft landed or left. This meant that the woman could not have left the area with another tour group by mistake.

The woman was discovered missing when the tour guide was distributing chits to the passengers for snacks, at the Kaieteur airstrip before they boarded the aircraft back to Ogle.

One of her colleagues on the trip said that the missing woman was with the party when it was returning along the trail from the falls.

She said that the woman lagged behind and when they urged her to walk up she said that she knew the place and that she had been there several times before.

She spoke of being with a British team that discovered some caves in the Kaieteur Falls area a few years ago.