MV Barima recovery efforts continue amid hope of recovering missing victims

What this source establishes

News Room Guyana reports President Ali's Thursday night briefing to waiting families, the frankest official account in this corpus of the technical difficulty at the wreck. Ali says crews struggled to move the submerged vessel, that divers had done enough work to attempt entry again on Friday, and that the movement achieved might have dislodged bodies which could surface overnight. He identifies full salvage as the only remaining option if divers fail, says authorities are trying to avoid it, and says that decision would have to be discussed with family members because salvage risks disrupting whatever remains inside.

Figures cited in this source

None given in this update

Key claims

• President Irfaan Ali met on Thursday night with families still awaiting news about their loved ones.
• Ali said crews encountered difficulties trying to move the submerged vessel.
• Divers made enough progress Thursday to allow another attempt to enter the wreck on Friday; authorities expected to know by 10:00 a.m. Friday how successful it had been.
• Ali noted that because of movement achieved on the vessel, bodies trapped inside could have been dislodged and may surface during the night.
• If divers cannot recover those believed trapped inside, the only remaining option would be a full salvage operation, which authorities hope to avoid.
• Ali said a full salvage 'has the challenge of disrupting whatever is there' and would have to be discussed with family members.

Quotations

• “In the event that we don't get the type of movement we want with the boat, the divers were able to do enough work to go back tomorrow [Friday] to try to go into the vessel and try to release as much as they can release”— Irfaan Ali, President
• “the only other option after that, which we don't want to get to... is to try for a full salvage of the vessel. That has the challenge of disrupting whatever is there”— Irfaan Ali, President

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