53 bodies so far recovered from MV Barima tragedy

What this source establishes

The 7:04 PM Tuesday Demerara Waves update, recording 22 bodies recovered in a single day and the toll moving from 41 to 53 within five hours of the earlier bulletin. It documents the first body sighted inside the wreck that divers could not retrieve, and the incoming Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and Brazilian Navy diving detachments. MARAD Director-General Stephen Thomas asserts a cargo rating capacity of 126 tonnes and 394 passengers and concludes from the load line that the vessel was not overloaded; those figures differ from the 284-tonne licensed capacity cited elsewhere and from the 1938 original rating of 120 tons and 150 passengers.

Figures cited in this source

53 bodies recovered, 26 positively identified, 22 recovered on 21 July

Key claims

• Prime Minister Mark Phillips said 53 bodies had been recovered as of Tuesday evening, of which 26 were positively identified.
• 22 bodies were recovered on Tuesday 21 July alone.
• French Guyana military and local divers went to the wreckage on the sea floor and found one body but could not retrieve it Tuesday.
• Phillips said there is a likelihood divers may encounter more bodies at the wreckage.
• Detachments from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and the Brazilian Navy were due Wednesday to participate in intensive diving operations.
• MARAD Director-General Stephen Thomas said the vessel has a cargo rating capacity of 126 tonnes and 394 passengers.
• Thomas said that based on the load-line the vessel was not overloaded.

Quotations

• “There's a likelihood that they may encounter more bodies there.”— Mark Phillips, Prime Minister
• “He said based on the load-line the vessel was not overloaded.”— Stephen Thomas, Director-General, Maritime Administration Department

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