A body believed to be that of 23-year-old Aliya Bulkan who plunged off the Kaieteur Falls on Saturday morning was spotted yesterday and efforts are to be made today for search teams to retrieve it.

Aliya Bulkan

Sources last evening said the body was seen floating in a pond at the bottom of the falls but because the area gets dark very early efforts to reach the area had to be abandoned. Stabroek News understands that specialist officers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) journeyed to the area yesterday and were split into two teams, one at the top of the falls and another at the bottom.

It was the team at the bottom that reportedly sighted the body with the aid of binoculars and relayed the information to the team above.

Army Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best would only confirm that the army was participating in the search, adding that he had received unconfirmed reports that a body was spotted.

The family was still awaiting confirmation of the identity of the body.
A Korean woman who was part of the tour party had witnessed Aliya running and screaming and then plunging off the waterfall.

Aliya only recently graduated from a US university and relatives said that they found it difficult to believe that she ended her life since she was not depressed. The only problem she had, according to her relatives, was not securing a job. She recently returned home.