(Changes cargo weight of ferry to 268 tons, not 286 tons, in paragraph 16)
By Kemol King
GEORGETOWN, July 19 (Reuters) – Dozens of people were feared dead after a ferry carrying 133 people capsized off the coast of Guyana late on Saturday, with authorities suggesting an inaccurate passenger list and drug use by the crew might have contributed to the situation.
No survivors have been found since Sunday afternoon, when Guyanese authorities announced they had rescued 67 people, including 15 children.
The captain and other crew members are now in police custody, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said at a press conference late on Sunday.
“Search and rescue is still in progress,” Edghill said. “So to the families that are out there wondering about their loved ones, we are doing everything that is humanly possible to find them.”
The MV Barima, which had 116 passengers and 17 crew members, capsized off the North Atlantic coast, approximately 7 miles from shore, while traveling from the capital Georgetown to the village of Port Kaituma, authorities said.
Air traffic control received a distress call from the ferry around 11 p.m. on Saturday, triggering a search and rescue operation.
Edghill said early responses were hampered by the darkness and lack of vessels with scanners that could search for survivors, leaving rescuers reliant on eyesight and sound.
Companies in the oil and gas sector have since deployed vessels with scanners and the government has activated divers to enter the ferry to search for bodies, Edghill said. Authorities have also expanded the search area to 1,040 square km (401 square miles) from 400 square km.
Edghill initially insisted on Sunday afternoon that there was no sign of “neglect” on the part of the ferry operator. But on Sunday evening, he said the captain and at least one other crew members had tested positive for marijuana.
In addition, a number of people who were rescued were not listed on the ferry’s manifest, indicating inaccuracies in the ferry’s passenger list and hampering rescue operations because authorities do not know how many people they are searching for.
The boat had maintenance in 2024 and was due for dry docking – the process of temporarily taking a ship out of water to inspect and repair problems – later this year, the minister said.
The disaster has torn apart families.
Leon Murray, a passenger on the ferry, told local news outlet Ignite News that about four hours after leaving Georgetown, someone shouted that the boat was sinking.
After the boat capsized, Murray managed to swim to the surface where he used a life jacket to keep himself afloat. He drifted and shouted for help and found his son and three others holding on to a floating box.
Murray said he and his son survived, but his wife, daughter and four grandchildren haven’t been found. “Six of them gone.”
Guyanese Prime Minister Mark Phillips said in a statement that the vessel reported a cargo weight of 268 tons out of a capacity of 284 tons. He said the ferry was licensed to carry more than 300 passengers, and was outfitted with 250 life jackets, six inflatable life rafts and two rigid life rafts.
But by Sunday evening, at a press conference, Phillips said an investigation had been launched into wrongdoing involving members of the police force, defense force and maritime administration department.
“Let me be absolutely clear: where negligence, misconduct or criminal wrongdoing is established, those responsible will face the full force of the law.”
(Reporting by Kemol King and Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Emily Green; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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