An atmosphere of quiet grief settled over Port Kaituma yesterday as survivors of the sinking of the MV Barima contacted relatives to recount their ordeal or to provide information on family members who remain missing.
In the mining community, an information centre was established where Minister of Amerindian Affairs Sarah Browne and a team of counsellors from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security met with relatives and offered psychosocial support while providing updates received from the main information centre at the Umana Yana in Georgetown.
Browne told Kiskadee Watch that relatives had been arriving throughout the day seeking information on missing loved ones.
“We are meeting people who are coming to find out about missing family members. Some (survivors) have already made contact with their families. We are here to provide support to the families. Some people have more than one family member who is affected. For the Amerindian community, whole families were on the boat,” she said.
Port Kaituma resident Jacintha James described the community as unusually subdued.
“Everybody is emotional,” she said, explaining that while some residents remained at home awaiting news, others gathered quietly at the waterfront rather than endure the uncertainty alone.
Among those still missing, James said, is pensioner and seamstress Edith Gordon, who had travelled to Georgetown and was returning home aboard the vessel.
According to relatives, Gordon was resting in a hammock when the ferry began to list. Pensioners travel free on the Transport and Harbours Department ferry service, while other passengers pay a fare of $3,000. By comparison, a one-way airfare between Georgetown and Port Kaituma costs about $30,000.
While Browne described the mood in Port Kaituma as sombre and orderly, tensions were more evident outside the Umana Yana in Georgetown, where relatives, friends and supporters gathered under the midday sun awaiting updates on those still unaccounted for.
After members of the media were asked to leave the Umana Yana unless invited inside, relatives remained outside while, according to those present, only one family member at a time was permitted to enter the benab to receive information.
The arrangement drew criticism from Opposition Members of Parliament Dexter Todd and Coretta McDonald, who argued that relatives receiving distressing news should not have to face it alone.
Todd said the government had shown little compassion by leaving grieving families outside without basic shelter.
He noted that many relatives sought refuge beneath nearby trees, alongside police officers trying to escape the heat, and argued that a tent and drinking water could easily have been provided for those waiting.
Among those gathered was Lester Pickering, whose brother, Ronaldo Pickering of Georgetown, was travelling to Port Kaituma with goods to sell.
Pickering said he remained hopeful that his brother had reached shore safely, although he noted that the father of two sons could not swim.
Also awaiting news was Royston Mars, whose 47-year-old brother, Devon Mars, remains missing.
“My heart tells me he is alive. I know his name will be on the list of survivors,” Mars said, describing his brother as an experienced swimmer.
Two crew members of the Barima, brothers Neil and Kenrick Kirk, also remain unaccounted for.
Crew members from another Transport and Harbours Department vessel visited the Umana Yana seeking information about their colleagues but were unable to enter because they were not immediate relatives.
Nearby, a group of Venezuelan nationals comforted a teenage girl whose sister, brother-in-law and two nieces had been travelling to Kumaka, Mabaruma. By midday yesterday, only the older of the two girls had been accounted for.
The Barima, which was bound for Port Kaituma, was scheduled to stop at Morawhanna to allow passengers travelling to Mabaruma to disembark before continuing its voyage.
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