GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jul 19, CMC -At least 53 people have so far been rescued after an 89-year -old boat carrying more than 116 people and crew capsized late Saturday night off Guyana’s coast Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has said.
“There is an active search and rescue operation that is taking place, and we pray for the safety of all. The information, as it becomes available, will be made known to you,” Edghill said in video address posted on his Facebook page early on Sunday morning.
In a statement, President Irfaan Ali said he is “deeply distressed by the capsizing of the MV Barima last evening,” adding “I am presently out of the jurisdiction but am in touch with the Prime Minister.
“The entire Cabinet is engaged in the national response to this incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers and crew and their families at this time. Their safety is now our immediate concern.”
Authorities have not yet released details on the circumstances that led to the distress call
Prime Minister Mark Phillips said more details would be provided on Sunday as rescue work continues.
Edghill said that the MV Barima departed with 116 passengers, plus crew, for Port Kaituma, a small village within the Barima-Waini administrative region of Guyana, which had became known internationally when on November 18, 1978, it became the site of one of the largest mass murders in American history when 918 members of the Peoples Temple settlement in nearby Jonestown where were coerced or forced to drink cyanide-laced punch under armed guard.
(More to follow)
CMC/gt/2026