A female tourist went missing following a trip to the Kaieteur National Park (KNP) yesterday and a search party found no sign of her.
An expanded search mission will resume looking for her at first light today. In the meanwhile, all tours to the KNP have been suspended.
According to a press release last night from the Ministry of Presidency’s Department of Natural Resources, a search operation is currently underway at the Kaieteur National Park, Region 8, to locate the female tourist who was reported missing.
The missing female was part of a group of persons on a tour that was organized by a local operator, Air Services Limited (ASL) and had a total of nine passengers on the flight. The release stated that the woman went missing sometime during the tour and the National Parks Commission Rangers, who facilitated the tour, were joined by other staffers in starting an immediate search.
In addition to the park rangers, all relevant authorities including the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force and the Civil Defence Commission were notified and an expanded search party will resume operations today.
Speaking to Stabroek News, Minister with responsibility for natural resources, Raphael Trotman confirmed that a woman was missing since earlier yesterday on the KNP tour. He said that while the search went on during the day, darkness forced a halt until today.
ASL manager Annette Arjoon-Martins when asked by Stabroek News last night whether the missing person was a Guyanese or foreigner and at what time she disappeared, said that the airline is currently working along with the Department of Natural Resources to gather the details and will shed light on the situation when precise information is compiled.
Arjoon-Martins went on to say that while ASL has been doing tours for over 25 years and ferries at least 5000 visitors a year, this was the first time that an incident of the sort had happened.
