By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): A desperate search and rescue operation is underway off the coast of Guyana, after a government ferry carrying 133 passengers and crew capsized at sea, leaving dozens of people missing and a Caribbean nation in shock.
According to the Associated Press, the ferry MV Barima departed the capital, Georgetown, on Saturday afternoon bound for the town of Port Kaituma in the country’s Essequibo region, a route that runs along the Atlantic coast before heading upriver to its inland destination. The vessel never completed the journey.
Guyana’s Public Works Minister reported that initial signs indicate the aging ship flipped over after being struck by a large wave, plunging everyone aboard into the sea.
By Sunday, officials reported that 67 people had been rescued, among them 41 men, 11 women, and 15 children. Dozens more remain unaccounted for, with lives feared lost, as rescue teams press a massive search operation along the coast. Guyanese Prime Minister Mark Phillips is personally leading the government’s response.
Officials have not yet confirmed a death toll, and the search for survivors continues. For Guyana, a nation of about one million people, the disaster has been described as a major national trauma, with families across the country waiting anxiously for word of missing loved ones.
The tragedy resonates across the Caribbean Community, of which both Guyana and Belize are member states, and among the Guyanese community here in Belize.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Tracy Taegar-Panton has issued a statement of solidarity on behalf of the Opposition Parliamentarian Caucus and the United Democratic Party, extending deepest condolences to the Government and people of Guyana, offering prayers for the grieving and the injured, and saluting the courage of the rescue teams. “Belize stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Guyana,” the statement read.
Breaking Belize News extends its condolences to all affected, and will continue to follow the search and rescue efforts.
The post Ferry with 133 aboard capsizes off Guyana, dozens missing appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): A desperate search and rescue operation is underway off the coast of Guyana, after a government ferry carrying 133 passengers and crew capsized at sea, leaving dozens of people missing and a Caribbean nation in shock. According to the Associated Press, the ferry MV Barima departed the capital, Georgetown,
The post Ferry with 133 aboard capsizes off Guyana, dozens missing appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
