`I see people die a cruel death’
A survivor of the MV Barima tragedy has recounted spending approximately seven hours in the Atlantic Ocean while clinging to two buckets and a bag of watermelons after the vessel capsized.
The man, whose name was not stated during the recording, related his experience during a meeting with Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed at the latter’s residence yesterday. The meeting, which the man attended with his mother, was broadcast live on the Team Mohamed Facebook page.
He said he boarded the ferry at Kumaka and that passengers had observed that the vessel appeared to be overloaded. According to him, water began entering the lower section of the vessel as it travelled farther into the Atlantic and encountered increasingly rough waves.
He said a large wave subsequently struck the ferry and caused it to capsize.
The survivor had been travelling in the lower section of the vessel with the cargo. He recalled being trapped underwater after the ferry overturned before eventually reaching the surface.
He said he initially grabbed two floating buckets and later held on to a bag of watermelons, which helped him remain afloat until he was rescued by the Coast Guard at around 5 am.
“We were on the water for about seven hours,” he said.
The man said passengers had not been shown where the life jackets were before the boat move off. While life jackets were stored above the section where he had been travelling, he said the vessel overturned too quickly for passengers to reach them.
“No one got a chance to snatch a life jacket,” he said. “The wave just come [and] flip the boat over,” the man said.
He described his survival as a miracle and recalled resurfacing to cries for help from other passengers, including mothers searching for their children.
“I just can’t imagine when I raise up in the water to hear mothers calling for their children,” he said. “I see people die a cruel death.”
“And it’s a miracle I swim up and come out of it. Otherwise I would have gone and that would have been, that would have been it,” the man said.
The survivor said he was taken to Charity following his rescue and received medical attention. He later suffered bleeding from his nose and mouth, which he attributed to swallowing and inhaling salt water.
He said he remains traumatised and has difficulty sleeping. His mother told Mohamed that he sometimes relives the moment when the wave struck the vessel.
“The boom is when the wave hit the boat,” the survivor explained.
According to him, no counselling was offered after the disaster. He said survivors were each given $50,000, although he could not confirm whether everyone received the same amount, and arrangements were made for them to travel to their respective destinations.
“They just offer to give us the $50,000 and send us off to various places, and that was it,” he said.
During the sinking, the man also lost his national identification card and the booklet used to access public assistance as a person with a disability. He said he approached the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and the Guyana Elections Commission but was informed that he would have to complete several administrative steps to replace the documents.
Mohamed criticised the process and questioned why the documents could not be replaced more quickly since the survivor’s identity and presence aboard the vessel could be verified.
The opposition leader said he would collect the man’s information and seek assistance for him. He also called on Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr Vindhya Persaud to ensure that the disability booklet is replaced.
Mohamed said the absence of in-person counselling was particularly troubling given the trauma suffered by survivors and relatives of those who died.
“They need to sit in person and offer counselling services,” he said, adding that he had been contacted by persons willing to provide such support.
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