MV Barima incident: As survivors recount harrowing ordeal, families await answers

For years, the journey from Georgetown to Port Kaituma in North West District aboard the MV Barima has been more than a ferry trip. It connected families, friends, children visiting relatives for the July/August holidays. Passengers who traverse the route know about the open ocean for hours and the powerful swells that came with it.

On Saturday afternoon, at about 3:15 p.m., the MV Barima departed with 116 passengers, in addition to its 17 member crew, bound for Port Kaituma.

Many were going home. Some were visiting relatives. Children looked forward to spending the school holidays with grandparents.

While the passengers slept quietly in their hammocks – a common thing for those traveling on the ferry – their lives changed forever.

At approximately 11:01 p.m., the Timheri Control Tower received the vessel’s distress call. Emergency response teams were mobilized and government agencies and private vessels launched a massive search-and-rescue operation off Guyana’s coast near Iron Punt, in the vicinity of the Pomeroon River. Aircraft, marine vessels, medical teams, and one of the Government’s transport steamers raced into the darkness.

Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill said the vessel carried 250 life jackets and six inflatable life rafts, meeting its required safety standards.

As dawn broke, the rescue effort continued.

Dozens were pulled from the sea.

But many remained missing.

Among the rescued were Adam Matabheek, his wife Carlita, and Adam’s brother Nathaniel.

Nathaniel’s wife, Rachel Welch, and their three children – Nathaniel Jr., Natalia, and Ezekiel – are still unaccounted for. They had been travelling to visit family.

For survivor Elena Moonsammy, the terrifying moments unfolded almost too quickly to comprehend.

“It happened within seconds,” she recalled.

A wave struck.

The vessel suddenly leaned sharply to one side.

Water rushed inside almost instantly.

She had been travelling with seven children, including her two-year-old baby.

“I tried to grab my baby,” she said through tears. “But a box knocked him out of my hand.”

Moonsammy said she fought to survive. When she finally escaped the water, she was alone.

“Seven of them I lost – five girls and two boys,” the tearful woman said.

Alicia Atkinson had boarded the ferry with her young son, Triston, and her daughter.

Her mother Brenda Atkinson told the News Room that she spoke to her daughter at 1 a.m. when they were onboard.

“She told me they were on the boat going,” and so she reminded her daughter to keep the children safe.

Hours later, everything changed.

“I woke up and heard the news that the boat had sunk,” Brenda said.

Then came another call while Brenda was traveling to Charity on the Essequibo Coast. Survivors are being brought to Charity for medical attention.

“My daughter said, ‘Mommy, the little boy is here… but the little girl is not here.'”

For Orman Cox of Wauna, Region One, survival came down to instinct.

He had been travelling home with his brother-in-law and a friend.

“We were sitting together when the boat just made one cant,” Cox recalled.

He remembered sliding inside the vessel as it overturned. Trapped beneath the water, he struggled desperately to reach the surface.

To survive, he had to kick off his heavy boots.

He swallowed water but he kept swimming. Eventually he found several empty plastic bottles floating nearby.

Using his belt, he tied them together into a makeshift flotation device.

Five survivors clung to it for hours.

“We could see the rescue boats’ lights. But because of the swells, they couldn’t see us,” Cox explained. And so they shouted for hours into the darkness.

No one heard.

Around them, they could hear other survivors calling for help.

As the hours passed, exhaustion set in.

Cox said his legs started cramping but still, he held on until rescuers finally found them.

Devon Gaskin also survived by grabbing whatever floated.

“When the boat turned, whoever got the chance to escape, escaped,” he said.

Twice the waves forced him back underwater and twice he fought his way to the surface.

He eventually spotted pieces of ‘vinolay’ and several five-gallon bottles drifting nearby.

This became his lifeline and when the Coast Guard finally rescued him, he was relieved.

“I knew I wasn’t going to die,” he said.

Marvin James had been asleep in his hammock on the vessel’s upper deck.

“I just heard a loud crashing sound,” he remembered.

Before he could react, water engulfed him.

“It covered me in about two seconds.”

He fought his way outside as the vessel continued sinking beneath him.

“I just had to float,” Marvin said.

Not every family has received the call they desperately hope for.

Among those waiting is Louvicia Poon.

She had sent her 11-year-old son, Ronaldo, to spend the school holidays with his grandmother.

She is pleading for information about the whereabouts of her only son.

As search-and-rescue operations continue, the Government says its immediate priority remains bringing every passenger and crew member to safety.

The Prime Minister, who is serving as Acting President, continues to receive regular updates as military, emergency responders, fishermen, and private vessels work together in hopes of finding more survivors.

So far, 67 individuals, including 15 children, have been rescued.