Recovery efforts scaled down as foreign divers depart; talks on salvaging MV Barima continue

What this source establishes

The practical end of the recovery operation: the Prime Minister confirms diving has ceased and the French Guiana Army, Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and Brazilian Navy teams have left the country, with the 18-asset deployment scaled back to patrol boats and daily aerial surveillance. About thirty people were never recovered. On the wreck he restates the position this archive has recorded throughout — the government is weighing salvage against a memorial and will be guided by the families — which sits alongside, and does not confirm, the same day's report that the President has committed to attempting a lift. The piece also dates the swearing-in of the Commission to 31 July, against 30 July everywhere else including the state's own release; recorded as a reporting error.

Key claims

• **Diving operations have ceased.** Prime Minister Mark Phillips confirms that the teams from the **French Guiana Army, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and the Brazilian Navy** have left Guyana, described as having happened "this week".
• The operation is scaled down from the 18 assets previously deployed. Patrol boats remain active and aerial surveillance flights continue daily.
• Figures given: **76 rescued, 73 bodies recovered, at least 30 still missing** — consistent with this archive's figures of record.
• Phillips on the wreck: the government is "contemplating whether to salvage the sunken MV Barima or preserve the site as a memorial", and "those engagements with the grieving families are ongoing", to be guided by the families' wishes.
• [CONTESTED] The report states the Commission of Inquiry "was sworn in on July 31". **Every other source in this corpus, including the state's own release, gives 30 July.** Recorded as a reporting error rather than a divergence in the record.
• The end of diving marks the practical close of the recovery phase with about thirty people never recovered.

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