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At least 27 people have died after a ferry carrying more than 100 passengers and crew capsized off the coast of Guyana, Prime Minister Mark Phillips said on Monday.
Phillips said 69 people had been rescued from the MV Barima after it overturned on Saturday night while travelling from the capital, Georgetown, to the inland Essequibo region. He added that 83 others remain unaccounted for.
The prime minister said the government’s priority remained finding survivors, expressing hope that more people could still be rescued despite the rising death toll.
“Our focus again is on finding people,” he said, having raised the death toll from a previous 10. “We still have hope.”
He also said authorities were now confident that 179 people were on board the vessel, revising earlier estimates after officials determined that the ferry’s passenger manifest, which listed 133 passengers, was inaccurate.
Search operations have been expanded from about 400 square kilometres to more than 1,000 square kilometres, with local fishermen assisting emergency responders.
The French army also sent 12 divers, two doctors and a mechanic from nearby French Guiana to aid the search-and-rescue operation, the presidency said.
Authorities are also investigating the incident after two crew members tested positive for marijuana following the capsize.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said the ferry departed Georgetown in the afternoon and issued a distress call about eight hours into the journey.
The MV Barima, built in 1939, operated a route that combines sea and river travel to Port Kaituma, a remote community deep in Guyana’s rainforest.
Guyana, an English-speaking nation on South America’s northeast coast, is engaged in a long-running territorial dispute with neighbouring Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.
