Grieving mother calls on Govt. to subsidise airfares after ferry tragedy claims son

Jul 26, 2026 News

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By Khadidja Ba

(Kaieteur News) – Sitting opposite her home’s mirror, where her 16-year-old son, Andriel Bautista, used to stand fixing his curly hair before and after school, Anndyar Deally is turning her unbearable grief into a direct plea to the nation’s highest office.

Following a gut-wrenching maritime tragedy in the open Atlantic that took her son’s life, the 53-year-old mother is appealing directly to President Irfaan Ali to establish an affordable, state-subsidised air service for the people of Region One, so that no parent is ever forced onto a dangerous sea vessel again. The Department of Public Information (DPI) reported on January 14, 2026, that “For years, the residents of the hinterland have pleaded for more affordable air travel to and from Georgetown…”

Deally, her eight-year-old daughter Josmary, her late son, a 13-year-old girl, her nephew and his girlfriend were returning home to Port Kaituma after traveling to Georgetown to process official paperwork and buy school supplies. With airfare priced at an impossible G$30,000 per seat, the family had no choice but to rely on the government ferry. Now, suffering through trauma and mourning her “lovely, kind” boy, Deally says the government must provide safe, accessible air travel for low-income families, or separate passenger boats from heavy cargo.

“I am giving a suggestion that the President could at least put an air service in Kaituma for the poor people, where whoever wants to go down to town can pay something cheaper and reach safe and secure,” Deally said, her voice heavy with emotion. “For me, I am not going back on any government boat ever again. I will not take that chance again. The sea is not easy… The experience was horrible, horrible.”

Forced to the Atlantic: The Price of Accessing Georgetown

For residents of Port Kaituma, daily life is defined by severe local scarcity and inflated costs. Essential goods, business stock, and administrative offices are often unavailable in Region One, forcing residents to make the long journey to Georgetown.

“The only way to come out and go in Port Kaituma is by air or by boat,” Deally explained. With three passages to pay for, airfare was completely out of reach. Deally took the ferry to bring back supplies for another daughter who is due to give birth in two months, documents for her children, who are Venezuelan by birth, and school items for young Josmary.

When they boarded the vessel in Georgetown, Deally immediately noticed how packed it was, crowded with families from Port Kaituma, Morawhanna, and Whitewater. Passengers were crammed onto the second floor, hanging their belongings and squeezing into whatever space remained.

“It was too much people,” she recalled. “Packing, packing, much fixing up.”

A night of terror on the waves

Shortly after 10:00 PM, while the crowded ferry navigated the rough Atlantic waters, Deally heard a terrifying sound. Within seconds, the entire vessel listed violently to one side.

“The boat just lean at the side and everybody start screaming,” Deally said. “People just slide down too, out of the boat I went. The only thing I hear is ‘Mommy!’ my little daughter. When I reach into the water, water start splashing in my face. I drink up water two times.”

Recognising that the boat was sinking, Deally drew on her ability to swim, prayed desperately for forgiveness from the Lord, and fought her way through the darkness as passengers panicked around her. She managed to reach a drifting mattress alongside two other men, including a crew member, and urged them to stay calm so the mattress wouldn’t capsize. They eventually grabbed hold of a floating ice chest to stay above the crashing waves.

In the pitch-black sea, as thrashing waves beat against them for hours, Deally began shouting into the void for her son, her nephew, and his girlfriend.

Then, across the dark water, she heard a small, familiar voice.

It was eight-year-old Josmary: “Mommy! I’m right there, Mommy! I’m good. Nothing happened to me, Mommy!”

“Mommy, let me pray”: An eight-year-old’s bravery

Josmary had not only survived the initial plunge into the ocean, but she had also fought to save another life. Traveling with the family was a 13-year-old girl. During the chaos, Josmary remembered instructions her father had once given her about helping someone in the water without being dragged down herself.

“My little daughter started telling me, ‘Mommy, you know I have to save the 13-year-old girl?’” Deally recounted. “She said people were mashing her down, but she pushed up. She make signs to the girl, caught her hand, went down after she took some breaths, and pushed her back up, over and over, until they found an ice pitcher to hold onto.”

When mother and daughter finally navigated the rough current to reach each other, the little girl turned to her mother in the dark. “She swim over, and when she come over, she said, ‘Mommy, let me pray. Mommy, let me pray.’ And we start praying. We start praying, asking God for mercy, to send rescue.” For nearly seven hours, the group clung to the ice chest, their skin bruised and raw from the metal edges as cold water battered their faces and entered their noses and ears. Young Josmary offered her own small hands to support her mother whenever Deally grew exhausted.

Around 5:00 AM, a rescue boat finally spotted them in the water and pulled them aboard.

The weight of loss and the path forward

While Josmary, Deally, and the 13-year-old were rescued, 16-year-old Andriel did not make it home alive. “I knew that my son wasn’t dead that day, I kept telling them go out and search, go out and search, plenty people still alive out there,” Deally said softly. “You weary, you wait, wait, wait, and rescue never reach.”

Deally remembered Andriel as a deeply affectionate, helpful boy who was adored by his entire family and community. “When he come home from school and I was in the kitchen, he would just come and hug me up, kiss me up. Every minute he would stand up in front of the mirror, fixing his hair. He was a very kind, good person.”

President Irfaan Ali had pledged and delivered on the promise that the government would cover all burial and tomb expenses for Andriel, and officers from the Ministry of Human Services have begun providing ongoing trauma counseling to the surviving family members.

While Deally acknowledges the government’s support during their bereavement, her focus remains fixed on ensuring that no other family in Region One suffers a similar fate. She continues to call on the President to implement systemic changes: dedicated passenger air options and stricter maritime safeguards.

“The sea is not easy,” Deally said. “From since you meet out the Kaituma mouth and reach the sea, it’s bare rocking until you reach where you going. The experience is horrible. We need an air service so people can travel secure.”

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• ferry tragedy, Grieving mother, subsidise airfares, weight of loss

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