Dozens feared dead after ferry capsizes off Guyana coast

Rescue crews kept searching the Pomeroon River area off Guyana’s coast after the MV Barima capsized near Iron Punt on a run from Georgetown to Port Kaituma, leaving dozens feared dead. Counts of those aboard shifted through the day from 116 passengers and crew to as many as 133, while 67 people were pulled from the water and at least 32 of those survivors were not listed on the passenger manifest.

A distress call went out around 11pm, and Prime Minister Mark Phillips was overseeing the search-and-rescue operation as the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard and the National Search and Rescue Agency worked alongside private crews in rough waters. The ferry route serves riverine and coastal communities that rely on boats for workers, families and goods, which made the capsize near Region 2 a sudden emergency for the Essequibo Coast and nearby settlements.

The questions now turn to how the MV Barima was allowed to keep operating in the first place. The vessel had maintenance in 2024 and was due for dry docking later in 2026, but it was also 87 years old and had remained in service despite replacement plans. Local reporting said the ferry was among three state-owned vessels earmarked for upgrades under a rehabilitation programme, a detail that is likely to sharpen scrutiny of whether the fleet’s safety backlog matched the demands placed on it.

Officials said the ferry may have been overloaded, and the inaccurate manifest is now central to the investigation. The gap between the initial count of 116 passengers and crew and the later estimate of 133 points to a boarding system that was either incomplete or poorly enforced, a serious failure on a route where passenger lists should be the first line of safety oversight.

Authorities have launched both an investigation and a criminal probe. Guyanese reports said the captain and first engineer were arrested, and that the captain tested positive for drugs, allegations that remain part of the early case file as investigators examine maintenance records, operator responsibility and the response that followed the late-night distress call. The capsize has already exposed how quickly a routine coastal crossing can become a mass-casualty crisis when inspection rules, loading controls and emergency communications all fail at once.