MV Barima Tragedy: Coast Guard Alerted at 10:51 p.m., GCAA Director at 1 a.m.

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard was alerted at 10:51 p.m. on July 18 to a distress signal from the MV Barima, but the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority’s (GCAA) Director of Air Navigation Services, Rickford Samaroo, learnt of the emergency only around 1 a.m. the following day, the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the ferry disaster heard on Wednesday.

The testimony of Samaroo and Aeronautical Information Service officer Tia Valenzuela also revealed that the vessel’s emergency beacon was unregistered, meaning its identification code could not be matched to records containing information about the vessel, its owner and emergency contacts.

Full coveragePresident Ali Defends MV Barima Salvage Review as Questions Over Disaster Persist41 reports

Valenzuela, who was on duty when the first distress message arrived at approximately 10:43 p.m., told the Commission that she sent the alert information to the Coast Guard through WhatsApp at 10:51 p.m. She received a response one minute later, at 10:52 p.m.