“Bones, not concrete’: Families of Barima victims demand their dead

Aug 02, 2026 News

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By Khadidja Ba

(Kaieteur News) – How do you say goodbye to a shadow? How do you tuck a child into a grave that lies 40 feet beneath dark, muddy ocean water, or fold the clothes of a father whose body remains trapped inside a submerged steel hull?

Across Guyana, in quiet wooden homes, tear-stained meeting halls, and riverbank communities, an agonising silence has turned into a raw, burning fury. In the wake of the catastrophic sinking of the transport vessel MV Barima, government officials, including President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Mark Phillips, have maintained that the administration is holding off on raising the vessel because they are waiting to hear if grieving families prefer a memorial site over a recovery operation.

However, through extensive interviews with victims’ families, survivors, and community representatives, a different reality has emerged. The families do not want an ocean monument to replace their dead. They are unanimously demanding that the government spare no expense to raise the 500-ton vessel, demanding the return of their loved ones, even if all that remains beneath the water is a handful of bones, or a cup of dust.

“My heart is bleeding for my child”

In Georgetown heavy with agonising suspense, Royston Frank sat with his hands trembling, fighting back tears that have stolen his sleep for weeks. His son, Rawle Frank, a 33-year-old sailor who knew every creak of the doomed vessel, disappeared into the dark water when the boat went down.

“At this time, I am grieving day by day concerning this tragedy… with my son, who was working on this boat, and disappeared. Can’t get a trace of him,” Royston says, his voice breaking under the weight of a horrific vigil. “This thing causing my nerves, I cannot get no comfortable sleep… My heart at this moment is bleeding for my child.”

Frank flatly rejects the state’s claim that families asked to leave the vessel submerged: “There was nothing [of] the sort that family want a memorial site. Because when you’re speaking about that… We don’t need it. And we never, ever come to a decision like that… How we can come to a decision like that where we’re crying day and night for a loved one? Even to the bone self, I satisfy. Even to the bone, I will say, yes, I know, well, you’re gone, boy. But if I see nothing, it breaks all of us heart.”

Rawle’s mother added her own desperate plea: “If it’s the bone from the boat, I would like to have it. The boat must raise. That is all I need right now.”

The family recalled Rawle’s premonition before setting sail on a vessel plagued by mechanical neglect, recounting how the boat went out operating on only one engine after another burned out in the Northwest, relying on a generator to push it forward. “My son told my wife… this is his last trip because he never wanted to work on that boat anymore,” Frank revealed. “And indeed, it’s his last trip that I can’t see back my son, for real.”

Addressing government claims regarding salvage difficulties in Guyana’s muddy, low-visibility rivers, Frank, drawing on regional maritime diving knowledge from the Pomeroon, pointed out that local divers are uniquely trained to dive by touch and feel in black, cloudy waters at depths far greater than 40 feet. Furthermore, he highlighted the stark contrast between multi-billion-dollar offshore operations and the refusal to retrieve citizens:

“We have an oil company here by the name of ExxonMobil who have all those heavy-duty equipment… while they’re going down thousands of feet to take out our oil, the President just can’t go down 30 feet to get human beings, our fellow brothers and sisters.”

A 37-year legacy erased on a manifest

For 37 years, Neil Cort served his country on the riverways as the canteen operator aboard the MV Barima, often feeding hungry, penniless passengers out of his own pocket. When the vessel sank, 57-year-old Neil and his 53-year-old brother, Kenrick Cort, who assisted him, vanished into the river.

In their home, the stillness is overwhelming. “Up to this morning, I wake up,” his wife, Diane, sobbed. “And when I look at the side of my bed, it’s just me alone… I need to say goodbye. All his clothes, all his belongings is still in there. The little apartment. All the pots… He die working and die doing what he love to do, cook… Mr. President, if you look at this, I am pleading. I am begging. Please bring up the boat.”

Neil’s family described how he looked after his family, paying for his children’s educations, supporting his grandchildren, and raising a 5-year-old orphan whose father was murdered in 2024 and who now mourns the loss of her “second daddy.”

Yet, when Neil’s daughters rushed to the Umana Yana following the wreck, they were met with what can only be described as bureaucratic erasure. “Our father’s name was nowhere on the log, nowhere,” his eldest daughter recalled in disbelief. “My father worked in Transport and Harbours all my life… And when I go there, he name nowhere in their system. They keep asking for your name every second… Only when we stepmother screaming and hollering, then we’re getting some comfort from them. Otherwise, it’s nothing.”

Outraged by Public Works Minister Juan Edghill’s public assertions that the vessel was neither overloaded nor mechanically defective, Neil’s eldest daughter issued a blistering response: “And deep down in my father’s heart, I know every day he know the boat is overload… In 2015, when I get my son, my father called my mother… I asked him, he said, ‘the boat’s down right now, I ain’t working, they’re supposed to fix the boat and bring out back one.’ And now my son is 11 and then my father just disappeared. It ain’t going down like this. We ready for whatever war they about to bring… Edghill, you best get it right… You need to bring up this boat, it’s time. Even if you bring the dust, we want the dust! We can test the dust and we can keep it, cause we can know this is we family. Bring it up, let me get justice.”

Jasmine Cort, Neil’s daughter, told Kaieteur News that she spoke to President Ali directly at State House two days ago. “Mr. President, my father and uncle were both aboard the MV Barima, we have not gotten the chance to bring them home or lay them to rest. As families we are not only grieving, we are searching for answers and I would like to speak on behalf of them directly to you to spare no resource or expense in bringing the boat up. We live in a technological age and world, use these technology to continue the search for bodies.”

Another Cort family representative condemned the historical conditions faced by commuters on the Georgetown Ferry Stelling, detailing how passengers, many from Indigenous and Northwest communities, were routinely crammed onto overloaded decks, sleeping on floors and cargo amid tight hammocks, only to face delayed rescue responses when distress calls went out at 11:30 PM, with first relief arriving hours later at 5:30 AM.

Among those searching for answers are the relatives of Raymond Somra, a 56-year-old sailor attached to the Transport and Harbors Department (T&HD) for over 40 years. Somra left his home on July 13 to board the vessel. His mother, Rebecca Somra, told Kaieteur News that he would normally call to inform her that he arrived safely. While the bodies of four Berbicians were recovered, Somra remains among those unaccounted for.

In an interview with Kaieteur News on Friday, his family summarised that while they have not been able to confirm, they have accepted the reality that he is not alive, a position conveyed by his 77-year-old mother. “I come to one conclusion. I say he die, because up to now you can’t see him, you nah hear nothing from no one,” she stated.

At the same time, she still clings to a morsel of hope that her son will walk through the gate to greet her. At their Islington home that she shared with her son, the grieving elderly woman told this publication that attempting to adjust to the unfortunate development is emotionally telling. “It is tough. Tough, tough, really tough. To me, I believe that he is somewhere to come home back.” To compound their distress, the family has been receiving what they eventually regarded as prank calls, which insensitively play on their emotions by telling them that he was spotted and that he is alive. His sister, Lolita Somra, explained that were this the case, her brother would have already reached out to assure them, particularly his mother, of his safety.

“I come to that conclusion that he’s dead, because if he was alive, we would’ve heard something from someone. We see it on Facebook. If you see him alive, show us. If that was true, the first thing he would do is borrow a phone and contact he mother,” she said.

A close friend of the family also added, “I tell she them pranking her. They cannot do things like that. They gon’ tell her something like that, and she (mother) already holding out that she will see him walk through the gate. How you gon’ do things like that?”

The government has announced its readiness to abide by the wishes of affected family members, from the options of having the vessel remain submerged and formally convert the location to a memorial site, or have the vessel brought to surface.

Somra’s family emphasised their preference for the boat to be raised, allowing for some form of identification – DNA testing or otherwise – to be done, acknowledging the advanced stages of decomposition two weeks on. Raymond Somra has two daughters, and grew up among five siblings.

Small coffins and unbearable torment

The human toll of the disaster has devastated families across the region, for the Jerome & Gonzalez Family, one mother, who survived the sinking, endured the agony of burying her two-year-old, eight-month-old baby boy on Sunday, while her 12-year-old daughter, Aliyah Gonzalez, remains missing inside the submerged ship.

“Only Sunday afternoon I bury my son,” she wept. “And I want my daughter… begging them to bring up the bone. The man said if he broke up, the bone them will scatter. I said, well, if he got to scatter, he got to test. We’re going to know who is the family bone.” Aliyah’s father added: “Up to now, I can’t even eat. I can’t even sleep… We need the boat to get up our children, get to know if it’s the bone or the clothes we could find.”

For the Thomas Family, having buried a nine-year-old child on Sunday, the family continues searching for 13-year-old Brian Thomas. “All I’m kindly asking the president is to bring the boat up at least… I just need my brother,” Brian’s sister pleaded. “If he’s bone, I’ll be thankful… I fed up waiting and waiting and waiting.”

Samantha Lewis, a mother bearing an unimaginable loss made her position unequivocal: “I am a mother who lost three; yes, we need the boat to be brought up, yes we would like a memorial but not on the sea.”

Alison Harcourt, mother of missing sailor Antone Harcourt stated, “We, the family of Anton Harcourt, would like to see that boat come up… Even if it is bone, we need to get it so we can bury it. He is not living there. So, I would like the president to bring up that boat. We don’t need no monument.”

Survivors, relatives, and community demand salvage

Statements gathered across the country from survivors and victims’ families further dismantle the official narrative, Orin Europe’s mother “Despite losing my son and grandsons, it would be fair to want that vessel to be brought up so that relatives can have closure in knowing that the deceased can have a proper burial… certainly a Memorial Site would be an appropriate remembrance… [but] this disaster can never be forgotten.”

Saleema Daniels, “I would prefer the boat to float and brought up. Because families need clarity on the bodies that is missing still.” Claudia Fraser, mother of 17-year-old Claiveliz Fraser, whose body was recently recovered and buried, added her voice calling for the vessel to be salvaged. Survivors Luis Castillo, Grenville Smith (father of recently buried Shanera Smith), and Donald Modeste, all publicly signaled their demand for the ship to be brought up. Smith noted that while a permanent memorial site should be established, the salvage of the MV Barima must happen first.

A family member who requested anonymity said “My family and I would like the vessel to come up… many families are still grieving not only for the loss of their love ones but for the fact that they did not get closure, not the body of their love ones, not a funeral service nothing & this breaks my heart… once the vessel is on land we can recover the body of more love ones & we can get some sort of closure… we can also possibly know the reason why this incident occurred in the first place.” Another relative said, “Personally, I believe the vessel should be salvaged. It is important not only to help provide answers to the many questions that families still have, but also to ensure that everything possible is done in the interest of truth, accountability, and closure.”

Over the past week, young people, members of the public, civil society members and even passersby have united to hold picketing exercises in front of Office of the President as well as in front of Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill’s house in South Ruimveldt.

Opposition demands action and legal protection

Though approximately 30 persons are yet to be located since the vessel capsized, Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed publicly listed the six individuals of that total who remain unaccounted for: Neil Cort (57), Kenrick Cort (53), Brian Thomas (13), Ralph Frank (33), Antone Harcourt, and Aliyah Gonzalez (12).

“Six families… Those six persons are missing,” Mohamed stated. “I’m surprised that Neil Cort, who worked for 37 years at Transport and Harbours… they wouldn’t even make an effort to lift that vessel, knowing that he served on that vessel and other vessels for 37 years… All the families are demanding that they must float that vessel. They want closure. Even if it’s a bone, they said even if it’s dust, they want closure.”

Mohamed called on the international community, the Guyanese diaspora, and citizens nationwide to support the families, offering to attend an emergency sitting of Parliament immediately to authorise necessary recovery funds, “How much will it cost to lift this boat? If the money finishes, you want to come to Parliament tomorrow, we’re willing to come to approve more money to lift this vessel. If you want tomorrow, Sunday, we come to Parliament to approve more money, we will come. We just want this vessel to float so that we can have a proper investigation done with the COI.”

Mohamed also warned survivors and grieving families against signing government documents or accepting low financial settlements without independent legal representation: “Please ensure they don’t coerce you into signing documents. Do not sign documents without legal representation… No amount of money can bring back life. But at the end of the day, you must be handsomely compensated because it’s their fault… You feel if any one of those government officials, if that happened to them, they would accept that kind of money? Never.”

He concluded by criticising Amerindian Affairs Minister Sarah Browne for being “missing in action” during the crisis and reaffirmed his pledge to provide legal representation and push for full accountability.

From the veteran transport workers who spent decades on the water to the children whose lives were cut short, the message echoing across Guyana is absolute. The families are not asking for hollow monuments over an unsalvaged grave. They are demanding accountability, truth, and the physical return of their loved ones, whether flesh, bone, or dust, so they can finally lay them to rest on dry land.

(Additional reporting by Shermon Hawker)

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