HGP NIGHTLY NEWS – In the pitch-black waters following the sinking of the MV Barima, survivors were found desperately clinging to oil buckets, a wooden pallet and even sharing life jackets as Coast Guard ranks raced to pull them from rough waters.
None of the 26 people rescued by one Guyana Coast Guard team was actually wearing a life jacket, the Commission of Inquiry heard from Petty Officer Jeromy Agard.
Agard testified that his six-member team departed at approximately 11:45 p.m. on July 18 after receiving coordinates for the incident.
When they eventually reached the search area, darkness and rough waters made locating survivors difficult.
Then they heard screams.
Agard said the Coast Guard crew slowed its vessel and directed a searchlight towards the voices coming from the darkness.
What they found painted a grim picture of the struggle to stay alive after the Barima went down.
Some survivors were clustered around a wooden pallet. Others were holding on to oil buckets, while several people were reportedly sharing a single life jacket.
“No person wore life jackets,” Agard told the Commission.
Between approximately 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., the Coast Guard team pulled 26 men, women and children from the water.
The ranks used lifebuoys and ropes to reach those struggling in the sea before pulling them towards the Coast Guard vessel and helping them aboard.
The survivors were eventually transferred to another vessel at approximately 5 a.m., but Agard said his crew continued searching.
This time, however, there were no more survivors.
Instead, the team encountered empty life rafts, cargo boxes and other debris in the water.
Searches continued into Monday and Tuesday, with Agard saying the crew extended its efforts towards the Pomeroon area based on his belief that currents could have carried survivors or debris in that direction.
The Commission also heard that civilian fishing vessels were operating in the area during the early morning search. Agard said he warned those operators to navigate carefully to avoid potentially striking anyone who might still have been in the water.
Another issue emerged during his testimony.
Despite rescuing 26 people, Agard said his team did not maintain a log containing the names or number of survivors they had pulled from the water.
His evidence now forms part of the Commission’s wider examination of the emergency response to the July 18 disaster, including the availability and use of lifesaving equipment aboard the MV Barima and the adequacy of the search-and-rescue operation.
