Guyana · Transport & Harbours Department ferry · Georgetown → Port Kaituma
MV Barima: the documented record
The MV Barima left the Transport & Harbours Department wharf at Kingston, Georgetown at about 15:15 on Saturday 18 July 2026, bound for Port Kaituma, and capsized off Iron Punt at the mouth of the Pomeroon River in three to nine metres of water. Her manifest recorded 116 passengers and 17 crew. A review of boarding-area CCTV later put 179 people aboard.
This site records what 192 published sources say, who said it, and when. Where sources disagree, both figures are given. It does not advance an explanation of the cause: the Commission of Inquiry’s five members were named on 26 July 2026, its establishing instrument had not been gazetted, and the figures were still being revised. Every claim links back to its source so it can be checked. Changes to this site are logged on the revisions page.
Three findings from the record
35 of the first 67 survivors were on the manifest
Minister Edghill stated on 19 July that 35 of the 67 people then rescued appeared on the vessel’s manifest, and that authorities could no longer determine how many had been aboard. DPI releases of 19 July state that families were being updated using the manifest. The figure of 179 is attributed to a review of boarding-area CCTV rather than to a paper record.
Three stated capacity figures, no published certificate
Edghill gave 284 tonnes and 397 passengers on 19 July. MARAD’s Director-General gave 126 tonnes on 21–22 July and 120 tonnes on 24–25 July, both with 394 passengers, and said of the increase from the 1938 rating: “I don’t have that information.” No certificate of survey, load line or passenger capacity appears in the corpus.
Why this corpus leans on one outlet
Stabroek News, publishing for about forty years, ceased print in March 2026 in voluntary liquidation, four months before the sinking. It carried the 2015 letter by master mariner Capt. R. E. W. Adams that named this vessel. Kaieteur News accounts for 32 of the 192 sources here; readers should weigh that distribution.
1. The manifest and the complement
Of the 116 passengers on the manifest, Edghill stated 100 booked through the Online Booking System and 16 through Mobile Money Guyana. The Associated Press reports that clerks had sold unmanifested seats for cash “for decades at state-run ferry terminals.” Hover or focus any bar for its figures; a table view sits beneath each chart.
Table view
| Measure | Value | Source and basis |
|---|---|---|
| Manifest complement | 133 | 116 passengers + 17 crew, Min. Edghill / DPI, 19 July |
| Booked online | 100 | Online Booking System |
| Booked by Mobile Money | 16 | Mobile Money Guyana |
| Complement from CCTV | 179 | Incl. 18 crew; PM Phillips 21 July, confirmed by CCTV review 25 July |
| Unrecorded | 46 | Difference between the two figures |
| First survivors on the manifest | 35 of 67 | Min. Edghill, 19 July |
| First survivors not on the manifest | 32 of 67 | Min. Edghill, 19 July |
2. Stated capacity limits
Officials gave different limits on different days. Three of the four figures on record sit below the 268 tonnes the vessel was manifested to carry; the fourth, Edghill’s 284 tonnes, sits above it. On 22 July MARAD stated the vessel was “not overloaded,” citing the load line. No published certificate appears in the corpus against which any of these figures can be checked.
Table view
| Stated by | Date | Cargo | Passengers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Min. Juan Edghill | 19 July 2026 | 284 t | 397 |
| Capt. Stephen Thomas, MARAD | 21–22 July 2026 | 126 t | 394 |
| Capt. Stephen Thomas, MARAD | 24–25 July 2026 | 120 t | 394 |
| Original certification | 1938 | 120 t | 150 |
| Manifested load | 18 July 2026 | 268 t | 116 |
| Minister's own line-by-line audit | 19 July 2026 | 260 t | — |
3. Recovery and survivor figures
Bodies recovered reached 73 on 24 July and were unchanged through 26 July. Survivors were revised from 77 to 76 after de-duplication, per News Room and Kaieteur. Kaieteur published its own tally of 103 on 22 July, compiled from Coast Guard, opposition, private-vessel and fishermen’s accounts, on a day the government reported 53.
Table view
| July | Bodies recovered | Survivors | Residual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 2 | 67 | — |
| 20 | 27 | 69 | 83 “missing” |
| 21 | 53 | 77 | — |
| 22 | 65 | 76 | 103 |
| 23 | 72 | 76 | 103 |
| 24 | 73 | 76 | 30 “unaccounted” |
| 25 | 73 | 76 | 103 |
| 26 | 73 | 76 | 103 |
What the figures imply, and what is published
Government releases report bodies recovered. No official death toll appears in the corpus. Against a stated complement of 179 and 76 survivors, subtraction leaves approximately 103 people; 73 bodies had been recovered. On 24 July the Prime Minister gave “30 unaccounted for,” against 83 “missing” four days earlier. Neither figure is reconciled in any source.
4. The voyage, hour by hour
Survivor accounts describe a packed lower deck (Leon Murray, AP), cargo stacked at the stern (Elena Moonsammy) and a list that did not right itself (Wayne Kitson). MARAD’s Director-General stated that a vessel with positive stability returns upright even when heeled twenty degrees, and attributed the failure to right to operational error in treacherous conditions. The two accounts are not reconciled in any source. Reported sinking duration ranges from about four minutes (Murray) to “less than a minute” (Guyana Times).
5. Vessel and institutional record, 1939–2026
Read the full chronology, entry by entry, with every conflict marked →
6. Conditions recorded, and proposals on the record
The left column states a condition as the sources record it, attributed. The right column lists proposals that identified parties have publicly made in response. Neither column contains any proposal or conclusion of this archive’s own. Fuller statements of each party’s position, with sourcing, are on the positions page.
7. Where the parties stand on the inquiry
As of 26 July 2026 the dispute on record was less about cause than about who should investigate. The three summaries below are the parties’ own stated positions.
The Government
President Ali named the five-member Commission of Inquiry on 26 July: Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith of Belize as chair, with Capt. Hamada Fouda (Jamaica), Nyree Dawn Alfonso (Trinidad and Tobago), Dr Andrzej Jasionowski (Poland) and Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Hayden Pritchard (Trinidad and Tobago). Terms of reference were announced covering loading, boarding, seaworthiness, maintenance history, crew competence, lifesaving arrangements, weather and the search-and-rescue response. The establishing instruments were described as still being finalised; no statutory basis, secretary or reporting deadline was cited. SINGLE SOURCE
The parliamentary opposition
APNU states the National Assembly should set the terms of reference and include IMO representatives. WIN seeks recusal of Ministers Edghill and Indar, livestreamed hearings and publication of the full report. The AFC proposes the Commission of Inquiry Act, Cap. 19:03. Jointly, five parties state that a Commission of Inquiry is not a substitute for a marine casualty investigation under SOLAS and the IMO Casualty Investigation Code, and that both should run. These positions were stated before the members were named; no response to the announced membership appears in the corpus.
Civil society
The GHRA rejects executive appointment and proposes a parliamentary commission with equal government and opposition membership, a judicially qualified chair, a statutory duty of candour and state-funded counsel for bereaved families. TIGI and Rescue Guyana call for an IMO-led investigation. The Amerindian Peoples Association calls for Minister Edghill’s removal and a review of the whole river and sea transport system with mandatory consultation of Indigenous and riverain communities. The Shipping Association of Guyana welcomed the inquiry. On 25 July the Prime Minister said that if contacting the IMO would help, the government would do it.
Check it yourself
All 192 sources →
Search and filter by outlet, type and period. Every source has a page with its summary, key claims, quotations and a link to the original.
The figures, source by source →
Every figure that changed, who stated it, when, and on what stated basis. Read this before citing a number from anywhere — including from here.
Method and gaps →
How the corpus was assembled, what could not be retrieved, what was searched for and not found, and the eighteen corrections made after an adversarial check.