Guyana of­fi­cial­ly swore in a five-mem­ber Com­mis­sion of In­quiry on Thurs­day, to in­ves­ti­gate the sink­ing of the MV Bari­ma ear­li­er this month, a mar­itime dis­as­ter that is be­lieved to have claimed the lives of more than 100 peo­ple.

Pres­i­dent Ir­faan Ali, who ap­point­ed the com­mis­sion­ers, at­tend­ed the swear­ing-in cer­e­mo­ny be­fore Guyana’s Chief Jus­tice Judy Latch­man.

The com­mis­sion’s chair­man, Jus­tice God­frey Philip Smith of Be­lize, took the oath of of­fice vir­tu­al­ly. A sec­re­tary to the com­mis­sion has not yet been ap­point­ed.