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Bulkan family showers praises on Army Special Forces

Nov 17, 2009 News

“We could not have done this on our own”

By Dale ndrews

Relatives of Aliya Bulkan who plunged to her death from a cliff at the top of the Kaieteur Falls reserved their highest praises for the ranks of the 31 Special Forces Squadron who risked their lives to retrieve her body from the rugged terrain of Kaieteur gorge.

Speaking on behalf of the Bulkan family at a press conference that was convened by the Guyana Defence Force at Base Camp Ayanganna, yesterday, Ronald Bulkan described the efforts of the Commanding Officer of the troops, Captain Sheldon Howell, Lieutenant Jermaine Whyte and the other ranks as beyond professionalism. The family is eternally grateful, he said.

The GDF team endured five days of traversing huge boulders, secondary jungle and unforgiving rapids to successfully complete the unprecedented task of retrieving the body.

Twenty-three year-old Aliya Bulkan plunged to her death on Saturday November 7 while on an organised tour of the world famous waterfalls.

Her body was recovered on Thursday last and flown to the city for cremation on Sunday.

It was noted that from the time the family solicited the assistance of the army, the response was unwavering.

“At the initial contact (with the army), the response was unequivocal in the affirmative. Thereafter it was very evident that the mobilisation was immediate; there was no delay in the mobilisation,” Ronald Bulkan told the media.

Describing the sequence of events that led to the recovery of the body, Ronald Bulkan explained that upon learning about the tragedy, some family members and two policemen journeyed to the area by aircraft to conduct an initial investigation.

After speaking with the tour guide of the party, it was established that she had disappeared over the falls into the gorge.

“There was little doubt as to that. I didn’t think Rustom (Aliya’s father) was in any doubt that she was hiding in anywhere at the top of the gorge,” Ronald Bulkan said.

Arrangements were made with some of the guides from the Kaieteur National Park to go down into the gorge to commence a search operation.

They returned to the city on Saturday afternoon and contacted Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best for assistance to locate and recover the body.

Two hours later the family was assured by the chief of staff that things were in train to have troops deployed to the area to join in the recovery effort.

According to Ronald Bulkan, the next day the father of the missing woman and himself were back in the Kaieteur Falls area and they were subsequently put on to Captain Howell who was assigned to lead the search and recovery team.

His brother, Howard, another uncle of the Kaieteur Falls suicide victim, who was on location throughout the recovery operation, indicated that while the family was eager to recover Aliya’s body, the members were very naïve when they initially spoke to the wardens who assured them that they were going to try to retrieve the body.

In fact, they had already planned to have a boat take the body from the Amerindian community of Tukeit near the falls to Mahdia.

“We were a little optimistic but it was only when Captain Howell came in on Monday morning that we realised the extent of the terrain of Kaieteur Gorge,” Howard Bulkan said.

Days of anxiety passed until the tedious task was completed.

“I said to the Chief of Staff that this Special Forces 31 is a special bunch of men and women and we couldn’t have done this on our own, there was no way we could have done this. My family would be eternally grateful for what they have done here,” Howard Bulkan stated.

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