GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – The Guyana government Tuesday said it is working closely with the families of the victims of the MV Barima tragedy and that efforts are continuing to refloat the vessel that sank on July 18, killing 73 people and leaving at least 30 others missing and feared dead.

“The priority for the government is to ensure that we work closely with the families in relation to the MV Barima. And when I say families here, I’m not only speaking of families who would have lost loved ones, families here where persons are still missing,” President Irfaan Ali told a news conference.

“So the priority is to ensure, especially where children, women, parents are involved, to ensure that we have a close connection from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Human Services with those families, and we have established the Heart Initiative to be a long-term, multi-stakeholder, I don’t want to use the word agency, but long-term, multi-stakeholder forum that would look at immediate, short, immediate, medium and long-term needs of families.”