The MV Barima Commission of Inquiry began its public hearings this morning with the revelation that at the time the ferry capsized and eventually sank, its beacon was not registered. That unregistered beacon made it difficult for the Aeronautical Information Unit within the Timehri Control Tower to determine what vessel was sinking when it received a distress signal on July 18, 2026.

The first witness on the stand was Director of the Air Navigation Services, Rickford Samaroo, who told the Commission of Inquiry that although the Aeronautical Information Unit received a distress alert message at 10:43pm on July 18, it could not be determine whether it was a fishing vessel or another vessel that was encountering difficulties because it was not registered.

“From our search it was not registered,” Samaroo told the Commission as he responded to a series of questions posed by Commissioner Nyree Alfonso.

Though the Aeronautical Information Unit had received the distress message from the United States Mission Control Centre (USMCC) at 10:43pm, it was not until 1:15am on July 19, 2026 that Samaroo learned that a vessel was in distress.

It was explained that through a Memorandum of Understanding with the USMCC – a search and rescue satellite alerting system – Guyana receives distress alert messages. Those messages, Samaroo explained are sent to the Aeronautical Information Unit that is manned 24 hours a day.

Samaroo explained that in the case of a maritime disaster, the Unit notifies the MARAD, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard and the Light House, and as such, it was not necessary for him to be immediately notified.

He said it was during the early hours of July 19, 2026 at around 1am that he received a call from the Director General from the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Egbert Field informing him that a vessel might be in distress out at sea, and that two aircraft from Roraima Airways would be deployed to investigate the report.

It was then that Samaroo contacted his staff at Timehri.

“I then contacted my staff at the Tower at Timehri and they briefed me on a distress message which was received by the control tower from the USMCC at around 10:43pm on the 18^th July, 2026,” Samaroo told the Commission.

He said at the time, the Unit had already notified MARAD, the GDF Coast Guard and the Light House.

Samaroo told the Commission that around 4am on July 18, he was informed by the Unit at Timehri that the vessel had been located, and a rescue operation was in progress.

A total of 76 persons were rescued, but more than 100 lost their lives with the bodies of over 30 persons still to be recovered.

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