作者： admin

An eight-day nightmare of being lost adrift in the open Atlantic ended in mixed tragedy and relief for the crew of the missing Trinidadian fishing vessel St Vincent VII, after the captain of the vessel died just hours after he and his five crewmates were pulled to safety by a passing commercial ship. The Ministry of Defence of Trinidad and Tobago confirmed the devastating turn of events in an official statement released Wednesday, just hours after a morning announcement that all six crew members had been found alive.

The ordeal for the St Vincent VII’s crew began on July 6, when the vessel, carrying six yellowfin tuna fishermen employed by local operator Renita Enterprises Ltd, departed the Chaguaramas marine yard for a fishing expedition. On July 13, the vessel caught fire roughly 30 nautical miles off the maritime border of Suriname and French Guiana, disabling its power systems and cutting off all communication with shore. For more than a week, the vessel drifted aimlessly with the Atlantic’s trade winds and currents, leaving families in the dark and sparking a widespread regional search effort.

The dramatic rescue unfolded at approximately 9 p.m. on Tuesday, when the Maritime Operations Command Centre received an unexpected report from the crew of the MV Marvel Kite, a cargo ship bound for the United States. While traveling west around 349 nautical miles east of Galeota, the Marvel Kite’s crew spotted the listing, disabled St Vincent VII in open water. After approaching the distressed vessel, they confirmed that all six missing fishermen were on board, alive. Early reports from the rescue team described the men as being in reasonably good health, a update that brought immediate waves of relief to anxious relatives who had spent more than a week pleading for help to locate the vessel.

That hope quickly turned to grief, however, when 66-year-old captain Anthony Murray, a Trinidadian national, began experiencing severe respiratory distress just hours after being taken aboard the MV Marvel Kite. According to the Ministry’s statement, Murray initially showed no signs of pain or discomfort, but his breathing gradually became shallower, and he was pronounced lifeless before the rescue vessel could reach its planned rendezvous with the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard’s CG25 vessel off the coast of St. Lucia.

Following Murray’s passing, the decision was made to divert the MV Marvel Kite to St. Vincent, where local authorities will complete a formal death declaration, conduct a medical examination, and provide any required care for the five surviving crew members. Once cleared by medical teams, the remaining fishermen will be flown back to Trinidad by the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard.

The Ministry of Defence has issued a formal apology for two separate delays in communicating updates to the public and the crew’s families. Officials first apologized for withholding the announcement of Murray’s death until after his immediate family had been notified, a step the ministry said was taken out of respect for the Murray family. In a signed statement, Defence Minister Wayne Sturge also extended the government’s gratitude to the crew of the MV Marvel Kite for their life-saving intervention, and offered sincere condolences to Murray’s family following his “untimely and unfortunate passing.”

But the apology has not quelled frustration from the families of the surviving crew, who say they have been kept in the dark for days despite promises of immediate updates. Amanda Suraj, wife of crew member Shannon “Joey” Mohammed, told local reporters that while she was overjoyed to hear her husband had survived, she had yet to receive direct official notification from authorities or speak to her husband by phone, even after the Ministry of Defence published its initial rescue announcement to the media.

Speaking from her family home in Claxton Bay Wednesday, Suraj criticized officials for prioritizing media statements over notifying next of kin, saying the ongoing uncertainty remains deeply traumatizing for waiting relatives. “I believe our prayers were answered because they were rescued, but I still haven’t heard my husband’s voice,” she said. “It is disrespectful that the Ministry of Defence issued a media release about the rescue, yet no one has contacted the families or allowed the crew members to call us.”

Suraj added that conflicting rumors about the crew’s location have only heightened anxiety: reports have placed the rescued men in St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Vincent, with no official confirmation of their whereabouts. After eight days adrift on a disabled vessel following the fire, Suraj said her family has already endured enough sleepless nights. “We’re thankful they are alive, but we deserve to hear from them after all this uncertainty,” she said.

The tragic capsizing of the MV Barima off the coast of Guyana last weekend has seen its death toll climb to 65, official updates confirmed on Thursday, as multi-national rescue teams join ongoing efforts to refloat the 87-year-old vessel that sank en route from Georgetown to the remote inland village of Port Kaituma, located in Guyana’s Barima-Waini administrative region.

Speaking at an official press briefing, Guyana Prime Minister Mark Phillips announced that five additional bodies had been recovered in 24 hours of search operations, bringing the total number of fatalities recovered since search and rescue work began to 65. Of the recovered remains, 44 have been formally identified by next of kin, and 23 of those identified have already been released to families to proceed with funeral arrangements, Phillips said.

Regional government agencies, alongside the national Ministry of Health and Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, are working around the clock alongside bereaved relatives to streamline the process of releasing remains for funeral rites and burials, the prime minister confirmed. He added that the number of survivors who were rescued from the incident remains unchanged at 76.

Phillips emphasized that the government’s top immediate priority remains twofold: supporting grieving families through this crisis and bringing the search and recovery operation to a complete conclusion. “Our focus right now is not on compensation,” he stated. “We are concentrated on recovering remaining victims, covering all costs for burials and funeral ceremonies, and delivering whatever immediate assistance families require to get through this tragedy.” He clarified that the emergency support being provided to families is not classified as compensation, but rather a core responsibility of the government during a national crisis. Once the recovery operation is wrapped up, the government plans to launch a formal public commission of inquiry into the disaster as quickly as possible, he said. Compensation claims will only be addressed after the commission completes its investigation and submits its findings and policy recommendations.

In a boost to recovery efforts, specialized maritime assets and personnel from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and the Brazilian Navy have now arrived at the incident site and joined the search, rescue and recovery mission. Phillips noted that these international teams will support deep diving operations and other technical recovery work that local teams are not fully equipped to carry out. In total, 19 vessels and three aircraft are currently deployed to the operation, with smaller craft from the Guyana Defence Force, Guyana Coast Guard and Maritime Administration Department searching inland waterways for any remaining passengers who may have been swept away from the main wreck site.

Technical teams are currently conducting detailed structural assessments of the capsized vessel to identify the safest and most efficient strategy to improve access for diving teams working at the site. The current recovery plan calls for repositioning the vessel before deploying large marine salvage airbags around the hull. These buoyancy devices will restore enough buoyancy to refloat the MV Barima, after which the vessel will be towed closer to shore to allow for more thorough search and recovery of any remaining remains.

To honor the lives lost in the disaster, the Guyanese government has declared three days of national mourning, which began Thursday. During the mourning period, all national flags will be flown at half-mast across the country, and Thursday was also designated a national day of prayer. Phillips announced that the public is invited to gather at the Kingston seawall at 6 p.m. local time for a national service of collective prayer and reflection. Additional prayer and reflection services will be held tomorrow in both Port Kaituma, the vessel’s destination, and Mabaruma, the regional capital.

“The government remains fully committed to seeing the recovery effort through, supporting affected families in every way we can, and keeping every available resource deployed until the operation is fully complete,” Phillips said.

As investigations into the cause of the disaster progress, law enforcement authorities have announced that a third person has been taken into custody for questioning. The latest detainee is the senior superintendent who oversaw the loading of cargo and passengers onto the MV Barima before the vessel departed Georgetown. According to Phillips, the superintendent voluntarily attended a questioning session with the Criminal Investigations Department alongside his legal representative, and was subsequently detained for further interrogation. Earlier this week, the vessel’s captain and a senior crew member were arrested after both failed mandatory post-incident drugs tests.

Phillips cautioned that it is too early to confirm whether formal charges will be filed against any of the three detainees, noting that investigators are following standard legal procedure. “Investigators will collect all statements, the Director of Public Prosecutions will complete their technical legal review and submit recommendations,” he explained. “If investigators need additional time to build their case, they will request a 72-hour extension, as is allowed by law. We must follow due process every step of the way, and the public can be assured that we are adhering to all established protocols for police investigations.”

Official records for the voyage list 116 passengers and a 17-member crew, but authorities estimate that as many as 179 passengers and crew were actually on board the vessel when it capsized.