At least 27 people have died and 83 remain missing after a ferry capsized off the coast of Guyana, Prime Minister Mark Phillips announced Monday. The MV Barima, which was traveling from Georgetown to the Essequibo region, flipped over on Saturday night. Sixty-nine people have been rescued so far. "Our focus again is on finding people," Phillips said, raising the death toll from a previous 10. "We still have hope."
Initially, there was uncertainty about the number of people aboard. However, Phillips said he was now "confident" that 179 people were on the ferry. Public Works Minister Juan Edghill had earlier stated that the ship's passenger manifest listing 133 people on board was inaccurate.
Authorities expanded the search area from 400 to 1,070 square kilometers (154 to 413 square miles) on Monday. Local fishermen have joined the recovery efforts, and the French army sent 12 divers, two doctors, and a mechanic from nearby French Guiana to aid the search-and-rescue operation.
Two crew members aboard the aging ferry tested positive for marijuana after the incident, and an investigation is underway. The ferry, built in 1939, began its journey in mid-afternoon, and a distress call was received about eight hours later.
The capsized ferry was traveling by sea before reaching a river to arrive at Port Kaituma, located in a dense rainforest. Guyana, a small English-speaking country at the northeast corner of South America, is locked in a territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.