Lone AIS Officer on duty dealt with multiple distress alerts from US Control System as MV Barima sank

The lone Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) Officer who was on duty at the Timehri Control Tower when the MV Barima sank, told the Commission of Inquirty today that she received multiple distress message alerts from the United States Mission Control Centre (USMCC) indicating that a vessel was in distress.

That AIS Officer, Tia Valenzuela, was the second witness to appear before the Commission of Inquiry (COI) today.

She told the Commission that when the first distress message alert was received at 10:43pm on July 18, 2026, she was present in the Aeronautical Information Service Unit with two trainees.

The other AIS officer, who was on duty that night had left earlier.

It was explained that when a distress message alert is received on the Aeronautical Message Handling System (AMHS), that message is printed and the coordinates are immediately plotted in the SkyVector to establish the location of the beacon in the case of maritime related incidents. The HEX-ID – a vessel unique identifier – is extracted to ascertain the owner of the vessel.

A report is then generated and dispatched to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard and the Light House in the event of maritime related distress alerts.

Valenzuela said when the first distress message alert was received at 10:43pm on July 18, she read the report and saw it was an Emergency Position -Indicating Radio Beacon.

The AIS Officer told the Commission she began to plot the coordinates in the SKYVECTOR, but received an influx of other alerts related to the same beacon.

“I printed and plotted and constant messages, distress messages kept coming in one after the other, so, I had to respond to the USMCC as well, stating the time I received the message, and the time they sent the message,” the AIS Officer explained.

Between 10:43pm and 11:37pm on July 18, 2026, the US System had dispatched a total of seven distress alert messages. Valenzuela said it was important to respond to acknowledge receipt of the alerts, and could not assign that responsibility to the trainees.

“There were multiple coordinates that came in after the initial one, so I had to keep replying, so when I finish, I plot the coordinates and kept replying to all the messages,” she further explained.

Valenzuela could not say what time she completed the first set of coordinates. However, she told the Commission that she dispatched the first report with the coordinates to the GDF Coast Guard Operations Mobile at 10:51pm and a response was received at 10:52pm.

Valenzuela said she had dispatched all the reports with the coordinates to the Coast Guard, Commander Shamsudeen and the Light House by 11:14pm.

However, she noted the first time she contacted the Light House was at 11:01pm and Commander Shamsudeen at 11:07pm.

Valenzuela noted that in compiling the report to dispatch to the relevant authorities she could not identify the owner of the vessel because while there was an HEX-ID, it was not registered.

An earlier witness had also indicated to the Commission that the beacon was not registered and as such the AIS Unit could not determine what type of vessel was in distress. The AIS Officer said because the HEX-ID was not registered, she could not contact the owner of the vessel.

Valenzuela said while she had experience with more than 10 distress alerts in relation to both maritime and air, none was to this extent. While she had commenced training with the AIS Unit in 2024, it was not until June 2025 that she became an AIS officer.

The Commission will continue public hearings tomorrow when a number of GDF Coast Guard members are expected to appear.

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