Guyana Government tightens ferry safety procedures following MV Barima tragedy

What this source establishes

A CMC wire report carried by the Jamaica Observer one week after the sinking. President Irfaan Ali, briefing families at the Charity Operations Centre, said specialist divers had completed two dives with a third planned and recovered one more body, bringing the toll to 72. Prime Minister Mark Phillips said the government is strengthening compliance with standard operating procedures, including stricter ticketing and passenger management, after it was confirmed people boarded without being ticketed; CCTV from the departure stelling established 179 aboard. The report notes APNU pressed the Speaker on terms of reference and cited a March 2026 tender as showing engineers had flagged hull deterioration.

Key claims

• Recovery teams retrieved one more body from the wreck of the MV Barima on Friday; the death toll has risen to 72.
• President Irfaan Ali said specialist divers had completed two dives with a third planned, working to safely penetrate the wreck by cutting through sections and removing obstructions.
• The official manifest had 116 passengers and a 17-member crew, but authorities said as many as 179 passengers and crew may have been on board; 76 people survived.
• The vessel capsized after being hit by a wave en route from Georgetown to Port Kaituma in the Barima-Waini region.
• Prime Minister Mark Phillips said on a radio programme on Friday that the government is strengthening compliance with standard operating procedures across the country's ferry service.
• Phillips said immediate action is being taken to ensure stricter adherence to existing ticketing and passenger management procedures after it was confirmed that individuals boarded the MV Barima without being ticketed.
• Phillips said a review of CCTV footage from the departure stelling established that 179 people were on board when the vessel sank; the footage was examined overnight by a team of officials.
• An independent Commission of Inquiry being established will investigate how discrepancies between the official passenger manifest and the actual number of passengers were allowed to occur at the Transport and Harbours Department.
• APNU asked Speaker Manzoor Nadir to let legislators discuss and agree the terms of reference for a commission of inquiry, proposing the Assembly meet the following Monday.
• PNCR General Secretary Sherwin Benjamin warned of mass protests if the government refused APNU's demands.
• APNU parliamentarian Saiku Andrews said the government's March 2026 tender for docking and rehabilitation of the MV Barima required examination of approximately 10,000 square metres of hull plating and frames, with deteriorated sections to be renewed where necessary.
• APNU legislator Dexter Todd said a team of 15 lawyers had been assembled to protect the interests of the survivors, and that the captain and two crew members were still in police custody.

Quotations

• “They are making progress in cutting things open and clearing, and as a result, they have been able to recover one more body so far from the wreck”— Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana
• “We intend to ensure that we bring the necessary pressure to bear so that this matter can be dealt with with much dispatch and by that, I mean, if it means that we have to organise mass political activities”— Sherwin Benjamin, General Secretary of the People's National Congress Reform (PNCR)
• “The real issue is that the Government's own engineers identified the need to examine the hull, replace deteriorated steel, replace wasted hatch beams, replace zinc anodes, service critical components and carry out ultrasonic thickness testing only months before the tragedy”— Saiku Andrews, APNU parliamentarian

Actors named

• Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana
• Mark Phillips, Prime Minister of Guyana
• Manzoor Nadir, Speaker of the National Assembly
• A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), parliamentary opposition coalition
• People's National Congress Reform (PNCR), largest partner in APNU
• Sherwin Benjamin, General Secretary of the PNCR
• Dr Terrence Campbell, APNU parliamentary leader
• Saiku Andrews, APNU parliamentarian
• Dexter Todd, APNU legislator
• Transport and Harbours Department, Guyana state ferry operator
• French and Trinidadian dive teams, international recovery support

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