SerpApi.Org
At least 53 bodies have been recovered from a ferry that capsized off the coast of Guyana on Saturday, as officials on Wednesday continued a search for additional victims and any possible survivors and the country began three days of national mourning.
The search entered its fourth day after the vessel, the MV Barima, issued a distress signal late Saturday as it traveled from the capital, Georgetown, to a rural outpost on the northwest coast. The search operations are expected to expand with the arrival of additional regional support, Guyana authorities said.
Personnel from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and the Brazilian Navy were expected to arrive on Wednesday to reinforce the effort, joining Guyanan and French divers, state and private vessels, and helicopters already involved in the operation. “This is difficult,” President Mohamed Irfaan Ali told relatives on Tuesday night after members of his team showed them images of the wreckage on the seabed and explained the intensified search efforts. “It’s painful. It’s an emotional shock, a trauma, and we are here to support you throughout the process, long after the process,” he said. “The focus now is on the families, the recovery.”
Ali announced that Guyana would observe three days of national mourning from Wednesday through Friday in honor of those who died in the disaster.
In a statement issued shortly after midnight Wednesday, the government said that 16 state and private-sector vessels had been deployed to the search area. The search zone has been expanded by an additional 400 square miles. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday 76 people had been rescued and a total of 53 bodies recovered. Of the recoveries, 26 persons had been positively identified, the statement from Prime Minister Mark Phillips’ office said.
