The decomposed female body recovered last Friday from the Iron Punt area, close to where the MV Barima sank, remains at the Suddie mortuary, where a DNA sample was taken on Wednesday for testing, a staff member at the mortuary told Kiskadee Watch yesterday.
The development comes as Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed said a family from Mabaruma has told him that the remains appear to be those of their daughter, based on the top the deceased was wearing.
The family undertook to visit the mortuary to determine whether the remains are those of their missing relative. The identity of the body, however, has not been officially confirmed.
On Wednesday, reporters asked the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) whether the Government could provide an update on the discovery and say whether the remains had been confirmed as those of one of the victims of the July 18 MV Barima tragedy.
The OPM, in response, said no further information was available at this time. “The questions raised have been noted. At this time, no further update can be provided on the matters concerning the recovery and identification of bodies. The relevant agencies will provide updates on confirmed information relative to your questions,” the OPM said.
The body was reportedly recovered last Friday in the Iron Punt area, one of the locations where search efforts were concentrated following the sinking more than a month ago.
The reported discovery was first made public by Team Mohamed’s, which noted that the female was believed to be in her teens.
Since then, the Guyana Police Force, the Ministry of Health and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre have not offered any comment on the finding.
The Government formally ended the active search and recovery operation on August 4. At the time, authorities said 73 bodies had been recovered, 76 people had been rescued and 30 remained unaccounted for. Five of the recovered bodies had also not yet been identified.
The MV Barima sank on the night of July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. Authorities previously said 179 people were aboard the vessel when it went down.
Government protocols established following the tragedy required bodies recovered during the search and recovery operation to be transferred into the custody of the Guyana Police Force at the Charity River Dam facility for processing and identification.
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