In a hard-hitting column published on July 26, 2026, titled “Every MV Barima Voyage Was a Death Trip: The Workers Were Victims Too,” Guyana Trades Union congress (GTUC) General Secretary Lincoln Lewis contends that the crew should be recognised not as the architects of the tragedy, but as workers forced to labour under conditions that no responsible employer should ever have permitted.

“Every voyage of the MV Barima was a gamble with life. Every departure from port was, in truth, a death trip waiting to happen,” Lewis wrote.

His comments come amid growing public outrage over the sinking of the state-owned ferry, which capsized while sailing from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. The Government initially reported that 116 passengers and 17 crew members—133 people in total—were aboard the vessel, but later revised that figure to 179. Even that number has been disputed, with some survivors, relatives and other observers believing the actual number of persons on board may have been higher. The uncertainty has been compounded by the Government’s decision not to raise the vessel from the seabed, a move critics argue could help establish the true number of passengers and crew aboard at the time of the disaster.