Rescue teams continue searching waters off Guyana’s coast following the July 18 capsizing of the MV Barima, which Prime Minister Mark Phillips says carried 179 people—far exceeding the 133 individuals listed on official documentation. As of July 24, authorities have pulled 72 bodies from the sea, identifying 65 victims, while 76 survivors have been accounted for. The discrepancy between the manifest and the actual passenger count has become central to the investigation.
The vessel departed Georgetown on Saturday afternoon headed for Port Kaituma, a gold mining community deep in the Essequibo rainforest. An emergency distress signal reached authorities at 11:01 p.m. local time that night, which corresponded to 3:01 a.m. GMT on July 19.
Crew Members Detained After Positive Drug Tests
Police have arrested the captain and at least one additional crew member, both of whom tested positive for marijuana following the disaster. At a July 19 press conference, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill condemned the findings and emphasized the government’s zero-tolerance policy toward operating vessels while impaired. He described the captain’s test results as particularly concerning.
Prime Minister Mark Phillips stated that “where negligence, misconduct or criminal wrongdoing is established, those responsible will face the full force of the law.”
Investigators are examining both the drug use and the incomplete passenger documentation as possible factors in the tragedy.
Mounting Death Toll and International Response
The death count has climbed steadily since the sinking. Officials revised the toll from 41 to 53 on July 21, with Prime Minister Mark Phillips announcing it had reached 65 the next day. By July 23, search operations involved 19 vessels and three aircraft, with diving specialists arriving from Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and France joining local teams. Private boats proved crucial in pulling survivors from the water.
French Guiana sent a dozen diving specialists along with two medical personnel and one maintenance technician to aid the operation, coordinated through the French army.
Harrowing Moments at Sea
Survivor Elena Moonsammy told Kiskadee Watch that a massive wave slammed into the ferry, tilting it severely. Water rushed into the vessel within seconds, she said.
Moonsammy held onto a floating box amid the debris. She had been gripping her young child’s hand but lost her grasp in the chaos. Even so, she managed to help another woman reach safety by directing her to the same box.
Among those brought to shore were at least 15 children. Relatives and friends of the missing have assembled near the coastline, anxiously awaiting information.
Questions Surround Aging Ferry
The 40-meter (131-foot) ferry was built in 1939 according to VesselFinder’s shipping database, making it 87 years old at the time it went down. Official records showed 116 passengers and 17 crew members, totaling 133 people, yet Prime Minister Mark Phillips confirmed 179 were actually aboard.
Vessels on this route typically travel through ocean waters before entering a river that leads inland to Port Kaituma, located in Guyana’s northern rainforest. The destination sits in Essequibo, a region at the heart of a long-running territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over oil-rich territory. This compact, anglophone country in South America’s northeast corner has consistently rejected claims by its larger neighbor to the area.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill described the event as Guyana’s worst maritime disaster in recent decades, saying officials were pursuing all available measures to locate those still missing. Authorities have retrieved 72 bodies—identifying 65 of them—and rescued 76 people from what is believed to have been 179 passengers and crew aboard, leaving dozens still missing and diminishing prospects for locating more survivors alive as days go by.