Senior Reporter
As the death toll from the MV Barima ferry disaster in Guyana climbed to 65 yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago military and Brazilian personnel joined regional teams in search and recovery operations.
In a media update briefing last evening, Guyana Prime Minister Mark Phillips said maritime assets and personnel from the T&T Coast Guard and Brazilian navy had arrived at incident site and joined the ongoing search rescue and recovery operation, and would support diving operations and other specialised recovery activities. He said 19 vessels and three aircraft were involved in the search, as well as smaller vessels from the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard and Maritime Department, which are conducting searches further inland in an effort to locate any remaining passengers.
Phillips said technical teams were conducting a detailed assessment of capsized vessel to determine the safest and most effective method to improve access for driving teams. This, he said, involved repositioning the vessel and installing marine salvage airbags, also known as buoyancy balloons, around the wreckage to restore buoyancy. Once afloat, he said, the vessel will be towed closer to the shoreline to facilitate further search and rescue operations.
Phillips said five bodies were recovered yesterday, taking the total number of victims to 65, with 44 so far identified by family members and 23 released to their families. The number of rescued passengers and crew remain at 76.
Phillips said the government’s immediate priority is supporting grieving families and completing the rescue and recovery operation.
“The focus is on recovering bodies, financing the burial and funeral rites, and providing whatever assistance the families need now,” he said.
“That is not deemed compensation. That is the government’s responsibility in times like this to assist families.”
He said once the rescue and recovery operation is completed, government would focus on the next phase, which he said would involve a commission of inquiry.
”After the commission of inquiry, then the issues of compensation will be determined because it will be guided by the commission of inquiry, the report, and the recommendations,” he explained.
In a previous statement earlier yesterday, the Guyana government said an extensive multi-agency and international response was underway, with search, rescue and recovery operations continuing.
In an interview on CNC3’s Morning Brew yesterday, Phillips said his government would be launching an independent commission of inquiry to determine what caused the tragedy and who should be held accountable.
“The report and the recommendations in the report of that inquiry will guide us in determining who were accountable, and the necessary sanctions and disciplinary actions that will be taken. But we are committed to bringing closure to the people who are affected by this incident and closure is not just rescue and recovery and funeral. Closure goes beyond that, and therefore, we are obligated to conduct the inquiry into what would have led to this (incident),” Phillips said, adding the government was already in the process of purchasing new ferries and that older assets would eventually be decommissioned.
“But, this incident naturally will cause us to have a quick discussion and, you know, go through how we move forward after such an incident. And that will include examination of the existing assets, the standing operating procedures, and all the regulations that govern the maritime transport facilities in Guyana.”
Guyana declared three days of national mourning, which started yesterday and ends tomorrow, in honour of the victims and held a National Day of Prayer yesterday.
T&T Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar announced on Tuesday that military resources, including the Coast Guard’s TTS SPEYSIDE (CG 25) with a crew of 20 persons, plus an additional seven divers and the Air Guard’s C26 aircraft with a crew of four to assist in aerial searches, were deployed to Guyana to assist in rescue and recovery operations.
