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Suicide
at Kaieteur Falls Army ranks to join search for Aliya Bulkan By Vanessa Narine
Aliya Bulkan (left) and her sister Camilla
Aliya’s
father, the joint Managing Director of Precision Woodworking, and
other locals are expected to be joined by ranks from the Army today to
continue the search. The
young woman and a friend, Ms. Lisa Ahmad, were among eight others on
the trip to Kaieteur Falls, including the pilot. Their
flight with Roraima Airways left Georgetown at 8:15am and reached the
destination point at 9:15am. Eyewitnesses
claim that at the end of the tour, the falls being the last stop on
the tour of the Kaieteur National Park, Aliya turned back, in the
direction of the falls, making the deadly leap over the 741 ft. high
waterfall. The
Kaieteur Falls, the largest single drop waterfall in the world, is a
magnificent, high volume fall on the Potaro River and flows over a
series of steep cascades, which total 822 ft. When this newspaper visited the home yesterday, relatives and friends were still in shock at the incident.
The
young woman’s mother was understandably devastated, but
her sister, Camilla Bulkan, was able to comment. According
to her, reports reaching the family were that Aliya did not seem
bothered and was acting normal before the incident. “Her
friend Lisa said she was laughing and talking as usual…When she
turned back everyone thought she was going back for her camera or
something, no one realised she was going to jump,” she said. While
those close to the matter acknowledged that the young woman had her
share of troubles, they concurred that they did not believe it was
enough to drive her to suicide. Aliya
is the second of three daughters of Mr. Rustum and Kaminie Bulkan. As
a St. Margaret’s Primary School student, she was the top student in
1998 at the Secondary School Entrance Examinations (SSEE) or ‘Common
Entrance’ examinations. Aliya
went on to become one of the top students from Queen’s College at
the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations,
with eight grade ones and two grade twos. In
later years she made good on her aspirations to carve herself a niche
among top academic performers. In
an interview with the Guyana Chronicle when she topped at the
‘Common Entrance’ tests in 1998, Aliya had noted that she wanted
to become an astronomer. However,
she shifted her interest and after completing studies in Guyana, she
majored in English at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York
City in the United States. In
the year she finished Queen’s College, she was awarded the prize for
winning the under-18 category of Association of Guyanese Writers and
Artists (AGWA). Last
December, after four years, she graduated with honours, Magna Cum
Laude, the second highest level of academic recognition at the
prominent Long Island University. According to her relatives, the girl’s dream was to become an editor with a renowned publishing house. Monday, November 09, 2009
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