The loss of chil­dren has be­come the most heart­break­ing as­pect of Guyana’s worst mar­itime dis­as­ter in liv­ing mem­o­ry, with Prime Min­is­ter Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips ad­mit­ting that the tragedy has deeply af­fect­ed him as the na­tion con­tin­ues to search for sur­vivors and re­cov­er vic­tims.

As the death toll from the MV Bari­ma fer­ry cap­siz­ing ris­es to 53, Trinidad and To­ba­go has joined the search and re­cov­ery ef­fort, with the T&T De­fence Force (TTDF) de­ploy­ing an air­craft, a Coast Guard ves­sel and 27 per­son­nel, in­clud­ing sev­en divers, to as­sist Guyana’s re­sponse.

Dur­ing an emo­tion­al ex­clu­sive in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Prime Min­is­ter Phillips said the deaths of young pas­sen­gers were what weighed most heav­i­ly on his heart.