In an emergency unfolding off the North Atlantic coast of Guyana, a passenger ferry carrying 116 passengers and crew members has capsized, with 53 people pulled from the water as of Sunday, local authorities confirmed in official statements.
The vessel, identified as the MV Barima, was traveling north from Guyana’s capital city of Georgetown to its destination of Port Kaituma when the incident occurred, according to Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who is personally overseeing the government’s emergency response to the disaster.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill shared details of the response via his official Facebook page, noting that local emergency operations centers received an initial distress signal from the vessel at 11:01 p.m. local time. The call immediately triggered a large-scale multi-party search and rescue operation, with both government-operated and private watercraft deployed to the incident zone to assist with recovery efforts.
The capsizing took place in waters close to the mouth of the Pomeroon River, according to official mapping of the incident location. As of Sunday afternoon, full details of the ongoing search operation remained undisclosed, and officials have not yet confirmed whether there have been any fatalities among the people who remain missing. Despite the uncertainty, Guyanese officials have publicly stated that they hold hope for rescuing more of the missing passengers in the coming hours.
Edghill also confirmed that the MV Barima was outfitted with required safety equipment ahead of its voyage: the vessel carried 250 life jackets, two rigid life rafts, and an additional six inflatable life rafts for emergency use.