MV Barima COI: Unregistered Emergency Beacon and Rapid Distress Alerts Exposed in AIS Officer’s Testimony

By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News |

ARTHUR CHUNG CONFERENCE CENTRE, LILIENDAAL — Testimony delivered on Wednesday before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the MV Barima disaster revealed that the vessel’s Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) was completely unregistered, severely impeding verification efforts while automated satellite distress alerts flooded control consoles minutes apart on the night of July 18, 2026.

Taking the witness stand at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Tia Valenzuela, Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) Officer at the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), detailed the minute-by-minute handling of international distress messages routed through the United States Mission Control Centre (US MCC).

Her testimony laid bare the operational conditions within the GCAA during the unfolding catastrophe, including coordinate discrepancies, station interruptions, an understaffed shift, and the bureaucratic hurdle of attempting to trace an unregistered beacon identification code while lives were slipping away in the Atlantic.

Midnight Shift Alert: Unregistered HEX ID and Automated Alarms

Valenzuela recounted that she was on duty during the 4:00 PM to midnight shift on July 18 when the station’s monitoring equipment triggered an alarm:

• The Beeping Alarm: At 10:43 PM, a continuous audible tone emitted from the Aeronautical Message Handling System alerted duty personnel to an incoming high-priority distress transmission.
• EPIRB Identification: Upon inspecting the terminal consoles, Valenzuela verified that the signal originated from an EPIRB—a radio beacon specifically deployed to indicate maritime emergencies and vessel distress at sea.
• The Missing Registration: The beacon’s unique hexadecimal identification number (HEX ID) was completely unregistered in official aviation and maritime databases. This administrative void prevented duty personnel from verifying ownership, confirming the identity of the vessel as the state-owned MV Barima, or establishing direct contact with the vessel’s operators.

Coastal Relay to Coast Guard and Coordinate Discrepancies

Despite procedural interruptions and operating with reduced personnel after another officer was allowed to leave the facility, Valenzuela initiated communications with military authorities:

• Dispatching Coordinates: At 10:51 PM—eight minutes after receiving the first automated transmission—Valenzuela forwarded the received coordinates and the unregistered HEX ID to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard. Receipt of the distress transmission was acknowledged directly by Commander Shamsuddin.
• Stream of Satellite Alerts: Between 10:44 PM and 11:37 PM, a rapid succession of distress messages arrived from the United States Mission Control Centre. Valenzuela noted that delays in local system acknowledgments could prompt the US MCC to directly follow up with domestic authorities.
• Coordinate Discrepancies: While subsequent satellite alerts delivered updated coordinates showing positional drift, Valenzuela admitted to commissioners that she was not technically equipped to assess the nautical or geographical significance of those coordinate shifts.
• Duty Handover: Valenzuela testified that she managed the multi-tasking demands as routine, having previously processed over ten distress alerts in her career. Although her mandate did not include direct search-and-rescue tactical coordination, she logged all system feedback before formally handing over duties to incoming officer Saskia Trapp at 11:46 PM.

The inquiry’s examination of distress information processing continues at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, as commissioners evaluate how delays in data transmission, unregistered tracking equipment, and inter-agency coordination affected the emergency response to Guyana’s deadliest maritime disaster.