MV Barima wreckage was located over 12 miles from initial coordinates

The MV Barima wreckage was located just off of Bounty Hall on the Essequibo Coast, just over 12 nautical miles from the location of the initial coordinates that were received from emergency services.

The Commanding Officer of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard, Commander David Shamsudeen appeared before the Commission of Inquiry today and confirmed that the Coast Guard received the first distress message alert along with the coordinates for the location of the vessel at 10:51pm on July 18.

Using Google Earth maps, Commander Shamsudeen provided the Commission with an analysis of the coordinates received. It was explained that between 10:51pm on July 18 and 2:37am on July 19 a total of six coordinates were received with all pointing to different locations along the Essequibo Coast.

Those locations included Better Success, Better Hope, and Marlborough.

“From the first to the second coordinate, we had a distance of 14.63 nautical miles; from the second coordinate to the third coordinate, we had a distance of 3.44 nautical miles; from the third coordinate to the fourth coordinate, we had a distance of 5 nautical miles; and between the fourth coordinate and the fifth coordinate we had a distance of 9.48 nautical miles. And between the fifth and sixth coordinates we had almost 8.24 nautical miles. More importantly is the distance from the first coordinate to the actual wreck… She sits just about 10 nautical miles off the Coast of Bounty Hall,” Commander Shamsudeen explained.

The Commission was told that when a further analysis of the coordinates was done, it was found that the first coordinate emanating from the distress signal was located approximately 12.3 nautical miles away from the actual site of the wreckage.

It was further disclosed that the second coordinate, which placed the distress signal approximately 5.2 nautical miles off Better Success, was closest to the wreck with a difference in distance of over 4 nautical miles.

The Uncertainty

Commander Shamsudeen also confirmed that initially the authorities were uncertain as to the type of maritime vessel that was in distress. He testified that as a result of that uncertainty, the Coast Guard employed the use of an automatic identification system as well as sky light to determine whether other vessels were in the area, however, there were no other vessels in the distress area.

Based on the information received at the time, the Coast Guard deployed the closest asset, which was its Floating Base in the Pomeroon.

“The first asset was deployed from the Pomeroon Floating Base. This was closest to where most of the coordinates located, even the one at Anna Regina, Pomeroon still was the closest asset,” Commander Shamsudeen explained.

He said with the use of a Coast Guard fast vessel, a team was deployed to the area.

Commander Shamsudeen said in the interim, the Director of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Captain John Flores was contacted to further ascertain what vessel was in the distress location.

Captain Flores reportedly told the Coast Guard that the MV Barima was expected to be in that area.

“Once he indicated that there was a high possibility, and this conversation was at 11:43pm, we started to treat [it] like every other distress, as though it was an active distress. So, we started to deploy assets from every single direction, so that we can have enough assets on the ground as fast as possible,” he said.

Shamsudeen told the Commission that a total of seven maritime vessels were deployed by the Coast Guard during the search and rescue operation, which was dubbed “Hawk Eye.”

Those assets were supplemented by vessels from both Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil as well as a number of maritime vessels.

It was not until, 13:51hrs on July 20, 2026 that the MV Barima was formally located based on information provided by a fisherman. Additionally, a total of 69 survivors were rescued by the Coast Guard with the assistance of civilians including fishermen, and 73 bodies recovered.

The Coast Guard wrapped up its search and rescue operation on August 3.