The Government of Guyana said that, as of 10:35 a.m. today, July 20, 2026, another body was recovered during the ongoing search-and-rescue operation involving the MV Barima. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre deployed 13 assets from first light.
By 12:35 p.m.,eight bodies had been recovered during today’s operation, bringing the total number of confirmed bodies recovered since the incident to 10.
The identification process includes the involvement of relatives and will be done at the Suddie Hospital, the government said in a statement.
“The Government remains fully committed to the operation and continues to deploy all available resources to locate and account for every person who was aboard the MV Barima at the time of the tragic incident”, the statement added.
Earlier, Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed said that members of his privately organised search and rescue team recovered the bodies of a woman and a child in the area where the MV Barima sank on Saturday night.
Mohamed, who was participating in the operation, said the bodies were handed over to the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard at Pomeroon and urged relatives of missing passengers to travel to Charity, where the remains were expected to be taken for identification.
He also said that another vessel involved in the search recovered six additional bodies. Up to the time of publication, the authorities had not confirmed Mohamed’s account or released updated casualty figures.
Guyana continues to mourn the maritime disaster, which occurred hours after the 87-year-old MV Barima departed Georgetown for Port Kaituma. The vessel reportedly went down after taking on water, with scores of passengers and crew on board. Dozens may have perished. On Sunday night only two bodies were reported recovered.
The latest developments come as investigations into the tragedy intensify. The entire Transport and Harbours Department team responsible for the loading and dispatch of the vessel has since been sent home pending investigations, according to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill. Edghill on Sunday night had also disclosed that the captain and two other crew members were found to be under the influence of marijuana and have since been placed under police custody.
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