-Phillips says any decision on Edghill rests with Ali as resignation calls mount
Around 83 persons are still said to be missing from Saturday’s ferry capsizing as the scale of the disaster grows and with 27 bodies retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Phillips yesterday said President Irfaan Ali will ultimately decide whether Public Works Minister Juan Edghill remains in office as calls grow for his resignation over the deadly MV Barima tragedy.
Responding to questions at a press conference about growing calls for Edghill to step down, Phillips said the government has heard those demands but stressed that the appointment and removal of ministers rest with the President.
“So, yes, we hear the noise out there, but I can only, as the primary assistant to the president, I can assure you that the president has ears and he’s hearing. But I want to also inform you and remind you that that decision lies with the president. None of us here cannot answer that,” he told a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, Camp Street, Georgetown as Edghill sat nearby.
Phillips defended the government’s approach to determining accountability, saying an independent body will be established to investigate the capsizing before decisions are made on possible disciplinary action. “We are obligated, according to the laws of Guyana, to have an investigation of this incident,” he said, noting that the independent body will be tasked with examining the circumstances surrounding the disaster, interviewing relevant persons and producing a report with recommendations.
The Prime Minister’s comments came as the government disclosed a significant escalation in the scale of the tragedy. Phillips said 27 bodies have now been recovered, while 69 passengers and crew members have been rescued. Based on the government’s latest assessment that 179 people were aboard the vessel, another 83 people remain unaccounted for.
Authorities had previously reported substantially lower numbers of confirmed deaths and persons believed to have been aboard the vessel. But Phillips said investigators worked overnight to establish a more reliable figure, reviewing information that included CCTV footage showing the vessel being loaded before its departure. “They collected a lot of information. They pored over that information, including the footage from the CCTV as the boat was loaded, and that has caused us to come up with a figure of 179,” he explained.
While stopping short of guaranteeing that the figure is final, Phillips said authorities are now confident that they have narrowed down the likely number of people aboard. “I’m not going to put my head on the block, but I’m confident that we have, through the work, narrowed the figure down to 179,” he said.
Of the 27 bodies recovered, Phillips said four have been identified as children, while six were identified as male and four as female. The sex of the remainder had not yet been determined or confirmed at the time of the briefing.
Devonshire Castle Flats
Meanwhile, he informed that the vessel was found resting on the seabed approximately nine miles offshore from Devonshire Castle Flats, close to the location of the initial distress signal communicated by the Air Traffic Control Tower. Its location was initially reported by fisherman Haresh Singh, who had also assisted with rescue operations the previous day.
Phillips shared that the search area has been dramatically widened, from an initial 400 square kilometres to approximately 1,070 square kilometres, noting that authorities expect the area to continue expanding as currents and wave action disperse bodies and debris farther from the site of the capsizing.
He disclosed further that France, through the French Armed Forces, has provided 15 divers who have joined local dive teams at the confirmed wreck site, while additional search and diving assistance from Trinidad and Tobago was also on its way to Guyana.
Phillips said authorities are making arrangements to help families identify the bodies recovered. Thirteen people from Port Kaituma and another 22 from Mabaruma were being transported to Region Two to assist with identification, including identifying people from their respective communities. Photographs of recovered bodies will also be made available at designated centres, including the Umana Yana in Georgetown, Port Kaituma, Mabaruma and the Suddie Hospital, to assist relatives with identification.
The government has pledged to facilitate the return of identified bodies to their communities for burial in accordance with the wishes and religious practices of their families.
Regarding questions about the vessel’s condition, the Prime Minister maintained that the MV Barima had been considered seaworthy when it departed Georgetown. “We have a history of maintaining the vessel in a seaworthy state. At the time when the vessel started the journey, it was seaworthy,” Phillips said. He added that the vessel underwent its last major maintenance in 2024, which included the installation of new engines.
The tragedy occurred late Saturday night after the government-operated MV Barima, which had departed Georgetown shortly after 3 p.m. for Port Kaituma in the North West District, encountered difficulties while travelling along Guyana’s coast. A distress signal was issued shortly after 11 p.m. before the vessel capsized near the mouth of the Pomeroon River, triggering a major search-and-rescue operation involving the Guyana Defence Force, Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), other State agencies, fishermen and international support.
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