(Kaieteur News) – How do you say goodbye to a shadow? How do you tuck a child into a grave that lies 40 feet beneath dark, muddy ocean water, or fold the clothes of a father whose body remains trapped inside a submerged steel hull?

Across Guyana, in quiet wooden homes, tear-stained meeting halls, and riverbank communities, an agonising silence has turned into a raw, burning fury. In the wake of the catastrophic sinking of the transport vessel MV Barima, government officials, including President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Mark Phillips, have maintained that the administration is holding off on raising the vessel because they are waiting to hear if grieving families prefer a memorial site over a recovery operation.

However, through extensive interviews with victims’ families, survivors, and community representatives, a different reality has emerged. The families do not want an ocean monument to replace their dead. They are unanimously demanding that the government spare no expense to raise the 500-ton vessel, demanding the return of their loved ones, even if all that remains beneath the water is a handful of bones, or a cup of dust.