One week has passed since the Guyanese ferry MV Barima sank in waters off the country’s northeast coast, and recovery operations have hit a critical wall, official sources confirmed Sunday. French military divers deployed to assist in the search and recovery mission say extreme visibility constraints and hazardous conditions inside the sunken vessel have made further progress nearly impossible, leaving 30 passengers and crew still unaccounted for after two full days with no new bodies recovered.
In a nearly three-minute video posted to Guyanese President Irfaan Ali’s official Facebook page, a French diving team member outlined the crippling challenges divers face at the wreck site. “We have to navigate the wreck entirely by touch — we are essentially blind,” the soldier explained. Tangled ropes and unsecured hammocks litter the interior of the sunken ferry, making route planning extremely dangerous, while thick layers of mud, shifting tides and strong persistent currents further obscure visibility and complicate movements. To date, divers have completed 15 separate dives to the wreck, but all attempts to systematically search the interior have been thwarted by these conditions.
The diver added that even attempts to salvage the entire vessel to recover remains face major structural barriers. The wreck’s deteriorated condition means any large-scale lifting operation carries a high risk of the vessel breaking apart entirely, making salvage a logistical nightmare. “I think it’s very, very hard to do such a thing. The wreck is not very stable, so removing it intact is incredibly difficult,” he added.
Multiple authoritative sources familiar with the ongoing operation have confirmed that no additional human remains have been located over the past 48 hours. Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, who has joined local authorities in coordinating search efforts, echoed that assessment Sunday, confirming no new recoveries have been made.
The most recent formal update on the disaster was released Friday evening by Guyana’s Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who confirmed at that time that the confirmed death toll stood at 73, 76 people had been rescued alive from the sinking, and 30 people remained missing. When contacted by reporters Sunday evening after he delivered opening remarks at a regional Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) conference at Georgetown’s Marriott Hotel, Phillips initially declined to comment as he walked away from reporters, before offering a brief statement: “The search for bodies and the recovery continues. There has been no change in that,” he said, before moving on to attend the conference’s exhibition opening.
A key discrepancy in passenger counts has added to the complexity of the recovery effort. The official vessel manifest listed 116 passengers and 17 crew members who boarded the MV Barima at Georgetown’s Kingston Goods Wharf for the voyage to Port Kaituma. However, after cross-referencing the manifest with the list of rescued passengers and reviewing security camera footage from the wharf, the Guyanese government now estimates that as many as 179 people were on board the overloaded vessel when it departed.