A disaster has struck the South American nation of Guyana, where an over 80-year-old passenger ferry carrying 133 people capsized in Atlantic waters off its coast over the weekend, leaving 66 people unaccounted for as rescue teams work around the clock to locate survivors.
The vessel, identified as MV Barima, departed the country’s capital Georgetown on Saturday afternoon, bound for the inland jungle town of Port Kaituma. The route, a common one for the ferry, takes travelers along Guyana’s Atlantic coast before turning upriver into the Essequibo region, a vast 160,000-square-kilometer territory that has emerged as a major oil-rich area in recent years. According to initial official assessments, the accident occurred after the aging vessel was struck by an unusually large wave, which caused it to flip over.
By Sunday, rescue teams had pulled 67 people from the water, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill confirmed in an official social media update. Prime Minister Mark Phillips later released a breakdown of the rescued: 41 men, 11 women, six boys, and nine girls, including 15 children in total. Among the survivors is 18-year-old Wayne Kitson, who recalled the tragedy unfolding late Saturday night while most passengers were asleep. Kitson, who suffered only minor injuries to his arm, leg, and neck after spending six hours adrift in open water before being pulled out, said he fears his wife and young daughter are among the missing.
Crucially, both the captain and first mate of the ferry survived the incident, and have returned to the disaster zone to support search and rescue teams with on-the-ground context, Phillips noted. Authorities have notified all relatives of recorded passengers and crew, and have so far classified the 66 unaccounted-for people as missing rather than deceased, holding out hope that more survivors may be found.
The MV Barima was constructed all the way back in 1939, according to global shipping vessel tracking database VesselFinder. Official records confirm the vessel was carrying 116 passengers and 17 crew members when it departed, and was outfitted with 250 life jackets, two full lifeboats, and six inflatable rafts. Edghill added that a distress call from the ferry was received roughly eight hours after it began its voyage. As of Sunday, search operations were ongoing, with private local vessels joining government-led rescue teams to comb the area for any sign of the missing passengers.