Hope seems grim as vessel with bodies vanish

Head of MARAD Thomas, Minister Benn and Edghill share the head table at tonight’s emergency press conference.

Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill on Tuesday night confirmed that a vessel with suspected dead bodies which was spotted off the Coast of Guyana cannot be located.

This was after initial sighting of the vessel was made on Monday and attempts by the MT Seamag 20 which is contracted to Exxon Mobil failed to successfully attached a towe line.

The minister was at the time speaking during an emergency press conference to address the efforts which were made since the reported sighting, the ongoing efforts and what the next phase will entail.

He also confirmed that at the moment, there are no reported missing Guyanese registered vessel or crew and as such, authorities are not ruling out that the bodies in the boat are from another country.

It was explained at the press conference that the difficulty in attaching the tow line was in a large way due to the rough waters.

The minister said the fact that the vessel with the bodies cannot be located is of concern for him.

A milti-agency approach saw the dispatching or aerial abd riverine resources from the army, Coast guard and even stakeholders to assist in locating the vessel since it was sighted.t

The press was told that based on the looks of the photographs, the deceased persons may be less than ten in number.

Local authorities are not ruling out the possibility that the vessel might have drifted all the way from Africa.

Some amount of information sharing with done between Guyana and counterparts in other country but Edghill noted that once local authorities believe they have exhausted all avenues to locate the boat and remains [and are] sure that it might have drifted out of Guyana’s waters, other countries would be made aware with a view of them checking in their waters to see if the boat is there.

At the moment, crews are still in the waters searching for the vessel and and tomorrow the GDF will again dispatch more resources to aid the process.