27 dead, 83 missing from capsized Guyana ferry, says PM

What this source establishes

An AFP dispatch in which Prime Minister Phillips raises the toll from 10 to 27 and states for the first time that he is confident 179 people were aboard, against a manifest of 133. It records the arrival of French military divers from French Guiana and the near-tripling of the search area. It preserves Edghill's timeline detail that the distress call came about eight hours after a mid-afternoon departure. The 'previous 10' figure it supersedes is not otherwise well attested in this corpus.

Figures cited in this source

At least 27 dead (raised from a previous 10); 69 rescued; 83 missing; 179 aboard; manifest listed 133

Key claims

• At least 27 people died and 83 remain missing; 69 rescued — Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Monday
• 'Our focus again is on finding people... We still have hope' — Mark Phillips, having raised the death toll from a previous 10
• Phillips said he was now 'confident' that 179 people were aboard
• The ship's passenger manifest listing 133 people on board was inaccurate — Public Works Minister Juan Edghill
• Search area expanded from 400 to 1,070 square kilometers (154 to 413 square miles); local fishermen joined recovery efforts
• The French army sent 12 divers, two doctors and a mechanic from nearby French Guiana — the presidency
• Two crewmembers tested positive for marijuana after the incident — Mark Phillips, Sunday
• The ship began its journey in mid-afternoon and a distress call was received about eight hours later — Juan Edghill
• The ferry was built in 1939, according to the shipping website VesselFinder

Quotations

• “Our focus again is on finding people. We still have hope”— Mark Phillips, Prime Minister

This page is a research summary prepared for comment and review. It is not the article. Copyright in the original remains with Jamaica Observer; the full text is held only in the private research corpus from which this archive was compiled. Follow the link above to read it at the source.