Guyana ferry capsizes with 116 aboard, 49 still unaccounted for

Rescuers had pulled 67 people from the water after the MV Barima capsized near Iron Punt, leaving 49 of the 116 people on board still unaccounted for. The ferry was traveling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma when it went over, turning a routine inland crossing into a major emergency for families waiting for word on who lived and who did not.

A distress call from the vessel reached an air traffic control tower at 11:01 p.m. Saturday, setting off a search led by the Guyana Defence Force and Guyana Coast Guard with help from private boats. Prime Minister Mark Phillips was overseeing the operation as crews worked in the Pomeroon River and off the Essequibo Coast, where currents and darkness complicated the search.

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said the first signs suggested the ferry may have flipped after being hit by a big wave. That account has sharpened attention on the vessel itself, including whether it was carrying too many passengers, whether it had been properly inspected before departure and whether it was equipped with enough emergency gear to keep people alive after the capsize. Those are the questions investigators now have to answer while the search is still active.

The number of survivors has shifted as crews continued to account for everyone aboard, with some later updates putting the rescued count at 53 and others at 67. Reuters and later reports said the rescued included 15 children, underscoring how many families were pulled into the crisis at once. The discrepancy in passenger totals, including a version of the story that referred to 133 passengers and crew, is itself part of the accounting problem that must be resolved before officials can say who was on the ferry and who remains missing.

The MV Barima capsized on a route that is vital to inland communities that rely on waterways for travel, work and supplies. In Guyana, ferry service is not a convenience but a lifeline, and each major accident quickly becomes a test of maritime enforcement, load limits, inspection standards and emergency response capacity across the country’s river network.