HGP Nightly News – Authorities still cannot say how many people were aboard the MV Barima when it capsized after discovering that 32 of the 67 survivors were absent from the official passenger manifest.
The manifest listed 116 passengers and 17 crew members, placing the official total at 133. That figure is now unreliable, leaving search teams unable to determine precisely how many people remain missing.
Two bodies had been recovered by the time of the government’s briefing.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill disclosed that only 35 survivors appeared on the passenger list. He described the presence of unrecorded passengers as a “criminal action” that had compromised the search-and-rescue operation.
An accurate manifest allows rescuers to establish who was aboard, who has been found and who remains unaccounted for. The discrepancies aboard the MV Barima have deprived the authorities of that certainty at a critical point in the operation.
The passenger-registration process has also come under scrutiny.
A Transport and Harbours Department official confirmed that passengers buying tickets in person were not required to present identification. Names supplied at the ticket office could therefore be entered without being checked against official identification records.
The department had recognised the weakness and begun testing scanners capable of reading national identification cards and driver’s licences. The system had not been fully introduced before the ferry capsized.
Edghill said the traffic manager, loading superintendent and revenue officer at the Kingston Goods Wharf were subjects of the investigation. He acknowledged that Transport and Harbours personnel responsible for the ferry’s loading and departure had failed to perform their duties properly.
The government has since removed the entire management team responsible for loading, dispatching and supervising the vessel from duty. Officials said the precaution was necessary to protect documents, recordings and other evidence from possible interference.
The administrative action does not establish negligence or criminal responsibility. Any disciplinary or legal consequences will depend on the investigation’s findings.
Police have secured surveillance footage from the Kingston wharf, where the MV Barima was loaded before departing for Port Kaituma. Investigators are expected to examine the recordings to identify who boarded and reconstruct the events leading to the vessel’s departure.
The briefing produced another serious disclosure: the ferry’s captain tested positive for cannabis after being rescued.
He was subsequently taken into police custody at Anna Regina. The government’s opening statement indicated that two rescued crew members had tested positive during medical examinations, although officials did not provide full details about the results.
A positive cannabis test does not prove that the captain was impaired when the ferry capsized. Investigators must determine when the substance was consumed, whether impairment can be established and whether it affected his ability to operate the vessel.
Questions also remain about the cargo.
The government initially announced an approximate cargo weight and rejected claims that the MV Barima had been overloaded. Edghill later ordered officials to recheck the cargo manifest after the passenger-list irregularities were uncovered.
That review was incomplete at the time of the briefing. Authorities could not independently confirm exactly what had been loaded, whether every item was recorded or how the cargo was distributed.
Even if the total load fell below the ferry’s licensed capacity, investigators will need to examine whether its placement or movement affected the vessel’s stability.
The wreckage had not yet been located.
Maritime Administration Department Director General Captain Stephen Thomas said a diver searched one suspected location but did not find the ferry. Two other divers were deployed with ExxonMobil-supported vessels surveying the probable area.
The government maintained that the three available divers were sufficient until the wreckage could be located. Regional and international partners had offered additional assistance, which officials said would be accepted if specialised capabilities unavailable in Guyana were required.
The Coast Guard reportedly arrived near the capsizing site at approximately 2:30 a.m., around three and a half hours after the distress signal was received at about 11 p.m. The timing and effectiveness of the response are also expected to be examined.
A multi-agency investigation will review the passenger and cargo records, loading procedures, vessel stability, compliance with maritime-safety regulations and the actions of the captain, crew and shore-based officials.
Until that work is completed, the government faces a fundamental problem: it is conducting a search without a reliable count of the people for whom it is searching.
