GDF completes yet another unsuccessful search for missing tourist

Sep 07, 2015 News

The Ministry of Presidency has broken news that the team from the Special Forces of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has completed its search of the gorge below Kaieteur Falls, but came up empty handed.
The team was searching for Gyaneshwarie Laleta Sivanand, the female tourist who was reported missing at Kaieteur National Park on Tuesday September 1.
The search ended on Saturday, but no sighting was reported. The Ministry said that the search was slow, due to the dangerous and extremely rugged terrain in the gorge below Kaieteur Falls.
A release stated, “The Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) wishes to inform the general public that the Kaieteur National Park remains closed until further notice, as the investigation that is being led by the Guyana Police Force (GPF), with assistance from other agencies continues.   A review of the Park’s operation protocols is ongoing to ensure the continued safety of visitors to this magnificent site.”

Missing: Gyaneshwarie Laleta Sivanand

Late Tuesday afternoon, there were reports that one tourist from a flight to the Kaieteur National Park, which initially had nine passengers, was discovered missing. A search operation was immediately launched by the National Parks Commission Rangers.
Sivanand, who was employed in the field of Human Resource, is a former employee of Laparkan and Singer’s. She was part of a nine-member touring party that left the Ogle airport for a tour of the world famous Waterfall in an Air Services Limited aircraft.
Reports are that the woman was seen crying and talking on her phone while the airplane was heading to the tourist destination.
When the aircraft landed at the falls, the woman appeared in better spirits. Sivanand 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. That has been found to be not true.
Reports are that all of the trails in the Park were searched. Binoculars were also used to view the area below the falls and along the sides of the gorge. However, there is still no trace of the woman.