Guyana tightens ferry safety procedures following MV Barima tragedy

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Prime Minister of Guyana Mark Phillips says the Government is strengthening compliance with standard operating procedures across the country's ferry service following the MV Barima tragedy.

Phillips, speaking on a radio programme on Friday, said immediate action is being taken to ensure stricter adherence to existing ticketing and passenger management procedures after it was confirmed that individuals boarded the MV Barima without being ticketed.

Phillips said a review of CCTV footage from the departure stelling established that 179 people were on board the vessel when it sank.

The footage was examined overnight by a team of officials, and the independent Commission of Inquiry being established will investigate how the discrepancies between the official passenger manifest and the actual number of passengers were allowed to occur at the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD).

Recovery teams have retrieved one more body from the wreck of the MV Barima, as a multi-agency operation involving local and international divers continued on Friday to locate those still missing following the maritime tragedy.

President Irfaan Ali, providing an update while meeting with the families of those still missing at the Operations Centre in Charity on Friday, said specialist divers had already completed two dives and would be undertaking a third as they worked to safely penetrate the wreck.

"They are making progress in cutting things open and clearing, and as a result, they have been able to recover one more body so far from the wreck," he said, confirming that the body recovered was that of a male.

The death toll from the tragedy has now risen to 72, following last weekend's incident in which the 87-year-old vessel capsized after being hit by a wave as it made its way from Georgetown to Port Kaituma, a small village in the Barima-Waini administrative region of the country.

The official manifest listed 116 passengers and a 17-member crew, but the authorities said that as many as 179 passengers and crew may have been on board the vessel.

The authorities have so far said that 76 people survived the ordeal.

Ali said the recovery operation remains highly technical, with divers carefully cutting through sections of the vessel and removing obstructions to gain access to additional compartments where victims may still be trapped.

"So that will be the process all day today. The divers will be working throughout the wreck all day," he said, adding that the recovery efforts would continue uninterrupted and that the operation is being supported by an international team of French and Trinidadian divers working alongside local divers.

Guyanese and Brazilian helicopters continue aerial searches over the surrounding waters.

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