The Guyana Government has flown over 30 persons from across Region One (Barima-Waini), who had relatives on board MV Barima when it sank on Saturday night, down to the Essequibo Coast, where bodies recovered are being sent for processing and identification. Based on revised figures, the ferry vessel, which departed Port Georgetown on Saturday afternoon en route of Port Kaituma in the North-West District, had some 179 persons on board including 18 crew members. So far, 69 persons have been rescued and 27 bodies were recovered while approximately 83 persons including children are listed as missing. On Monday morning, President Dr Irfaan Ali travelled to the Region One townships of Port Kaituma and Mabaruma, where he met with persons who were rescued as well as relatives of those still missing. He also visited survivors who are receiving medical care at the Mabaruma Hospital. During these engagements with the Head of State, the grieving family members and relatives requested assistance from the Government to travel to Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) where a site has been set up at the Charity Waterfront to store the bodies recovered from offshore.

President Ali has committed to helping the bereaved relatives and arrangements were made to fly them down to the Essequibo Coast, where their accommodation and on-the-ground transportation were facility by the State. “We have since provided aircraft to move the 13 [family members] from Port Kaituma to Region Two…and then they will be housed in Essequibo, and they will be transported and they will be utilised in the effort to identify bodies recovered. Likewise…22 persons from Mabaruma are being moved…for the similar reasons,” Prime Minister (PM) Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips disclosed during a press briefing on Monday evening.

The PM, who is leading the Government’s emergency response to this horrific maritime tragedy, reported that while 27 bodies were recovered between Sunday and Monday, the search and rescue operation remains active and they believe there could still be more survivors out there. “We still have hope people out there are alive… I’m advised…that with a ship like that, there are pockets of air, right. And wherever people are located, you may very well have people alive there,” Phillips stated. He added, “Our focus…is on finding people, finding them alive. Unfortunately, we did find some people who have passed on…and in that case, efforts to recover their bodies and have them positively identified and working with their families and their communities to bring closure.” Of the 27 bodies recovered since Saturday night’s tragedy, four are children. At the time of the press briefing, the PM indicated that six male adults and four female adults had been identified while the remaining bodies were still being processed. While President Ali has assisted these families from Region One to travel to Essequibo, the Government is looking to ease the burden of grieving families and has put systems in place for them to identify missing relatives without having to travel to region two.