MV Barima Disaster… Death toll now pegged at 103

Jul 22, 2026 News

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…as 22 more bodies recovered on Day Three

…Govt. says 76 survivors accounted for

By Khadidja Ba

(Kaieteur News) – The death toll following the capsising of the MV Barima is now pegged at 103, following three days of search and rescue by the coast guard, Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, owners of private vessels, and local fishermen.

The casualty count rose sharply after rescue teams recovered an additional 22 bodies during operations on the third day of the maritime disaster, while the verified total of rescued survivors, according to the government, stood at 76.

Calls intensified for the removal of Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill from office following what is being described as Guyana’s deadliest maritime disaster. The demands come on the heels of the government’s decision on Monday morning to send the entire management team responsible for the loading, dispatch, and overall oversight of the MV Barima on administrative leave pending an investigation. Pointing to systemic failures and lapses in leadership, political stakeholders from WIN, APNU, FGM and VPAC argue that accountability should not end with those directly responsible for the vessel, but should also extend to ministers with oversight responsibility for the relevant agencies. Demands have likewise been voiced for the removal of Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation Deodat Indar, as well as Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) Director General Stephen Thomas.

At a press conference on Monday evening, Minister Edghill was asked whether the calls for his resignation in light of the tragedy were justified. While Edghill did not respond to the question, Prime Minister Mark Phillips answered on his behalf, saying such a decision could not be addressed by anyone at the press conference.

“Let me answer all the questions,” Prime Minister Phillips said. “Minister Edghill was appointed by a president of Guyana… But I want to also inform you and remind you that, that decision lies with the president. None of us here cannot answer that.”

Phillips noted that officials, including President Irfaan Ali, are aware of the calls for Minister Edghill’s resignation and dismissed those calls as “noise.” When pressed further on the matter during a subsequent briefing, the Prime Minister remained firm in his position.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s a lot of noise out there from the opposition. I am not getting angry, I am just be adamant that the focus is on dealing with the search, rescue and recovery operation. There are opposition elements that are contributing to the search. There are opposition elements who are making a lot of noise out there. And I said, not only that they’re making noise, I said, Guyana remains a democratic state. People have a right to say what they want to say. Once they don’t go down, breaking and damaging buildings and private property and going to a state of disorder. That’s what I said yesterday, and I stand by everything that I said yesterday. I believe in that. I believe in what I said. And I believe that what I’m doing now is the right thing. Focusing on bringing closure to those people who would have lost their loved ones. And ensuring those who were rescued get the best care. Many of them remain traumatied. And working in this whole of government approach, which includes the opposition elements who wants to be helpful.”

Following the confirmation of the coordinates of the MV Barima wreckage, search, rescue, and recovery operations have intensified significantly. The government said 16 state and private sector vessels are currently deployed within the wreckage area, while the designated search area has been expanded by an additional 400 square miles. Extending to Waini Point, the expansion means authorities are now searching an area of 2,100 square kilometers to maximise the likelihood of locating any remaining persons who might still be alive.

The government explained that ongoing verification exercises reconciled information received from multiple sources involved in the operation. While 69 rescued individuals had been reported previously, overnight cross-referencing and verification confirmed that 77 persons who were on board had been brought to safety, with official working tallies recording 76 reconciled cases at 18:00 hours. Official updates noted that 53 bodies had been recovered by official units as at 18:00 hours, of which 26 have been positively identified.

French and local divers continue to conduct underwater operations at the wreckage site. Authorities confirmed that after thoroughly searching the submerged structure, no survivors remain inside the vessel, officially transitioning work at the hull from a search to a strict recovery exercise. Divers did identify one body trapped within the wreckage, but were unable to immediately recover it as of 18:00 hours due to the complexity of the extraction.

“Well, they saw one body and the divers, they’re the ones who must make the call as to whether they can, where the body’s located and whether they can recover the body from the vessel,” the prime minister explained regarding the extraction efforts. “The report we got is that they were unable to do that. Okay, however, this is an ongoing exercise. More divers will go down. They will go down with more equipment. And it is our hope that we will reach the point where they’ll be able to safely extract the body or extricate the body from the vessel. That’s not the end of it. Efforts will still be made to recover that body. We have the divers, local divers, we have the French divers, and we have divers coming from Trinidad and Brazil tomorrow. So, there’s a concentrated focus on dealing with searching the vessel, recovering bodies from the vessel. And sometime in the future, the discussions as to whether we salvage the vessel and so we will enter into those discussions in the near future. But right now, the focus and the concentration is on searching and recovering as much as possible bodies from the vessel.”

Additional support from the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil is en route to Guyana, with personnel from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and the Brazilian Navy expected to reinforce the ongoing search and rescue operations. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Center remains fully operational, and officials pledged that operations will continue until every reasonable effort has been exhausted.

To assist grieving relatives, several aircraft have been engaged to transport family members from interior communities, including Port Kaituma, Mabaruma, and Georgetown, to the hospital in Region Two to assist in identifying their loved ones. Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony and his team remain at the hospital to facilitate the identification and release of bodies. Of those identified, 11 have already been repatriated to their respective home communities upon request, with regional authorities providing financial and logistical support for wakes, funerals, and interments in keeping with the religious and personal wishes of the families.

All private boat operators, fishermen, and stakeholders participating in the recovery efforts have been reminded that any bodies retrieved at sea must be transferred immediately to the custody of the Guyana Police Force at the designated facility at Charity River Dam, in strict accordance with established recovery protocols. One Guyana Coast Guard vessel recently recovered five bodies from the water and returned to shore to offload them before heading back out to the search area.

Addressing questions regarding losses sustained in the sink, the prime minister confirmed that state property was also on board.

“I’m advised that public works would have lost some equipment… fuel, machinery, and so, ATVs, but all those things would be itemised as part of the whole investigative process,” Phillips stated. Asked whether any government official or minister insisted that those items be loaded regardless of limitations, he added, “I don’t have such a report. I cannot say yes or no. I don’t have such a report. If there is such a report out there, I would say when the investigation commence, those people could come forward and they can submit statements. If you have a report, when the investigation process start, the commission of inquiry, or whatever you wanna call it, feel free, come forward, and give statements, present your facts to that commission of inquiry. That will be an independent commission of inquiry. We are obligated as a government to do that. A lot of people lost their lives there. A lot of people, even though they may have been rescued, they left traumatized. People would have lost their ornaments. So, we are obligated to do such an investigation.”

Phillips further addressed long-standing systemic vulnerabilities, acknowledging that government vessels are typically uninsured as a matter of policy, with the state assuming direct liability for accidents and compensation. He also noted that crew members on government vessels have historically faced disciplinary actions for various infractions, including unauthorized passengers, illicit cargo, and protocol breaches, pointing to a breakdown in inspection systems that the upcoming inquiry will need to examine.

Earlier in the day, Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed provided a direct account of the situation on the water during an interview with senior journalist Gordon Moseley. Operating near the site where the ferry went down, Mohamed described the expansive nature of the search zone driven by strong coastal tides, noting that search teams had found about 10 bodies near the mouth of the Pomeroon River, some 25 miles from the wreckage location.

“Everyone, they’re saying one story,” Mohamed reported after speaking with survivors and grieving families. “That the vessel went down, the 90-year-old vessel went down at 10:30 p.m. The vessel was overloaded. And it’s a negligence of the Minister of Public Works. We would like to know, I’m calling on the Minister of Public Works to resign immediately. Resign immediately because over 100 lives… It’s sad to say this, but it looks like over 100. Yesterday morning at 8:30, the first body I recover was a two-year-old baby girl. What is it to politicize? The minister must resign immediately. Lives lost. This is one of the biggest national tragedies in this country after the Jonestown massacre. This is the biggest. So what, we’re going to keep allowing things to happen and don’t hold them accountable?”

Mohamed highlighted severe operational failures, including conflicting passenger manifests and direct executive pressure placed on vessel staff.

“We don’t even know how much passengers on board,” Mohamed said. “The manifest, one time we heard 116 plus 17. Now they’re giving us different figures. Different numbers. We don’t know how much persons are on the vessel. That is to begin with. So, no rules, all systems broken. The captain, now this poor innocent man, they want to pin all the problems, like the fault of the captain. Even the family of the captain reached out to me and mentioned phone calls would come to him to put more cargo vessel. Let’s say if they don’t want to accept some of the cargo, phone calls would come to him. He said, what can I do? What can I do? You’re getting calls from the top. So, this is the problem in the country. This is the problem, where the ministers influencing everything as it relates to safety.”

Mohamed also raised questions regarding delayed maintenance on the aging vessel, alleging administrative inaction despite allocated funds.

“In March of 2026, a contract was to be awarded for 120-something million dollars maintenance on the same MV Barima,” Mohamed stated. “Can you believe they have internal fighting on who to get the contract for the vessel, and up to today no work was done on the vessel? So, what about Malali and all these other old vessels too? They need to ensure they fix these vessels up as soon as possible and get new vessels. For the past three years we had trillion-dollar economies, but most of the money as I mentioned to corruption and into wrong deals, and the poor people of this country gotta suffer today. This vessel is 90 years old. We should have condemned this vessel not today, years now. Now, they don’t even have a scale to weigh the cargo. The manifest not reflecting the true number.”

The government has reiterated its condolences to the families affected by the tragedy and emphasised its commitment to providing full support throughout the search and recovery process. President Irfaan Ali has officially declared three days of national mourning, calling on the nation to keep the victims, their families, and all rescue personnel in their thoughts and prayers as operations continue.

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• death toll, Disaster, MV Barima, Rescue Efforts

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