Preliminary reports indicate that a huge wave may have caused the MV Barima with 116 passengers and a 17-member crew to capsize on Saturday night as it made its way to Port Kaituma, a small village within the Barima-Waini administrative region of Guyana, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has said.
So far 67 persons have been rescued and Edghill remains hopeful that “we’ll be able to account for all that were on board – 116 passengers and 17 crew”.
Edghill, speaking with the children of Richard Moe Senior, one of the crew members, said “from what we hear, it’s a big wave. That’s all we hear. It’s from everybody who hears it. But, there will be a full investigation into what happened. I don’t want to pressure you to investigate it. I simply want to explain it,” Edghill told the children.
“We wanted to be certain that it wasn’t hit by any foreign object. Or it didn’t hit anything. We wanted to establish that. Everybody said it was so-so, and I must tell you, even in the communication, because there were already the phone signals have been breaking up, so I don’t even want to hold people to what we may have heard,” he added.
“So, your father … let’s hope and pray that he’s coming in soon. We pray for that. We pray for all the other crew members. Everybody. Everybody. We want everybody to be here,” Edhgill said.
Clarifying what he described as misinformation regarding the cause of the incident, the minister said: “There was no engine problem or any mechanical problem. Even the survivors who made videos from the hospital, they’re telling you what happened, and it had nothing to do with overload, or taking in water.
“It had to do with the tide. Please be advised that the MV Barima is licensed to carry 284 tonnes of cargo. The cargo manifest shows that we had 268 tonnes, way below the cargo load.
“Secondly, the MV Barima is licensed to carry 397 passengers and we only had 116 passengers on board. The misinformation of overloading as the cause of this incident must be dealt with for what it is. Misinformation and something to create panic and public mischief and we deny that in the very strongest terms,” Edghill added.
Earlier, Edghill told a news conference, it’s still too early for us to be definitive about a number of things, including the names of those already rescued.
But he said that Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony is leading a massive health response in both Regions two and three and that medical personnel were on standby to treat and to deal with all on arrival.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) said “the search and rescue operation following the capsizing of the MV Barima has made significant progress, with 67 people, including 15 children, rescued as recovery teams advanced their search”.
