Timeline of the rescue effort for the MV Barima ferry sinking?

What this source establishes

In a letter to Kaieteur News, Janette Bulkan interrogates the rescue timeline in SOLAS terms, noting Guyana acceded to SOLAS in 1997. No other source in this corpus makes her causal claim that the ferry became stuck in a mudbank offshore of Iron Punt. She asserts the ferry lost power from one engine four hours out and took on water throughout, and asks whether a Pan Pan call was issued between 7 and 11 PM, four hours before the Mayday at 23:01. She writes that Captain Gerry Gouveia took off at 01:36 in a fixed-wing Islander, and asks why the Ogle-based rescue helicopters were never launched.

Figures cited in this source

27 drowned passengers recovered as at 6.30 PM 20 July, 83 others still missing

Key claims

• Bulkan asks the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MSRC), coordinated through MARAD and the Prime Minister's office, to publish the rescue timeline.
• Bulkan says interviews published by WIN and journalists with Kiskadee Watch and Kaieteur News indicate the ferry lost power from one engine only four hours after leaving Georgetown and began taking on water on its lower deck.
• Bulkan states the ferry became stuck in a mudbank offshore of Iron Punt, Pomeroon - a claim not made in official accounts.
• Bulkan asks whether the ferry issued a Pan Pan distress call between 19:00 and 23:00 hours on Saturday, following the SOLAS norm.
• Guyana acceded to SOLAS on 10 December 1997, effective 10 March 1998.
• Bulkan asks at what time passengers were advised to put on lifejackets and when the two lifeboats and six inflatable rafts were launched, and how many passengers were in each.
• The Mayday signal was issued by radio at 23:01 hours.
• Captain Gerry Gouveia took off 2.5 hours after the Mayday call, at 01:36 hours, in an Islander fixed-wing aircraft of Roraima Airways for the 20-minute flight from Ogle to Iron Punt, where he saw a distress flare and reported its GPS coordinates.
• Bulkan asks why rescue helicopters at the Omni Helicopters Guyana Ltd. base at Ogle and trained rescue swimmers were not launched immediately.
• Bulkan asks about the police boat stationed close to the mouth of the Pomeroon river, possibly the nearest water craft, and the two French-built MARAD Ocean Pilot boats acquired in October 2025.
• Exxon sent three offshore supply vessels to Iron Punt and carried out a sonar survey; Exxon or the French also sent a team of divers.
• Bulkan praises Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed as the only MP she has seen out on the water helping rescue efforts directly, contrasting with 'Ministers sitting comfortably in the Umana Yama'.
• Bulkan notes the President was away on business in Canada and asks when flags will fly at half-mast, referencing the Mahdia fire that killed 20 children three years earlier.

Quotations

• “Could the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MSRC) publish the timeline for the rescue effort for the sinking MV Barima ferry?”— Janette Bulkan, letter writer
• “But what about the helicopters and their trained rescue swimmers?”— Janette Bulkan, letter writer
• “I was glad to see that the Leader of the parliamentary Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed, is leading by example, the only MP whom I have seen out on the water”— Janette Bulkan, letter writer
• “Mr. President, when will our flags fly at half-mast, and for how many days”— Janette Bulkan, letter writer

This page is a research summary prepared for comment and review. It is not the article. Copyright in the original remains with Kaieteur News; 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.