Despite the commencement of salvage operations of the MV Barima, relatives of those who died in the July 18 tragedy are continuing their protests, insisting that they will not end the demonstrations until they see the vessel brought to the surface.

Among them yesterday was Georgina Lowe who lost her two youngest sons, Kyle and Brian, in the tragedy. She and the rest of the families want tangible results from the authorities rather than continued assurances, as the uncertainty surrounding their loved ones whereabouts continues to take an emotional toll on them. 

“We want to see action. We can’t only go by hearing and, you know, they’re promising and nothing ain’t doing,” Lowe expressed while sharing in the protest outside the Office of the President on Vlissengen Road. 

Lowe is the mother of eight children and the two sons she lost were her youngest, Kyle and Brian. She believes that seeing the boat raised would bring her satisfaction, particularly because she continues to struggle with not knowing where her sons are.

“I would be satisfied,” she said, explaining that she remained worried because she did not know where her sons were. “I’m still worried because I don’t know where is he? Like, where is my son?” she said while trying to hold back her tears.

Lowe said she was not even sure if the vessel would ever be raised. “I just have to keep praying and trusting God; that is all I could do,” she said.

She also expressed disappointment with the assistance provided to bereaved families, saying that despite promises of long-term support, the help she received from the Government was limited to grocery hampers delivered on approximately three occasions so far.

She said she had received no financial assistance and that persons delivering the hampers would simply drop them off at her East Coast Demerara home and leave, without checking on how she and her family were coping.

According to Lowe, those deliveries have since stopped.

Another relative continuing to demand answers is Diann Cort, wife of Neil Cort, who remains missing following the tragedy. She said her husband’s personal belongings were still at the vessel’s canteen, while the family was left without the long-term support promised by the Government.

Cort said that since relatives began protesting, government officials and support personnel had stopped visiting or contacting her to find out how she was managing financially and emotionally.

Cort said her husband had been the family’s breadwinner and that she was now relying on savings he had accumulated before his death to meet household expenses.

She disclosed that the only financial assistance she currently receives from the Government is $20,000 in monthly public assistance, with no additional financial support forthcoming.

Although her husband had never really wanted her to work, Cort acknowledged that she might eventually have to find employment to sustain herself. She also expressed concern about the counselling and other support services previously offered to affected families, saying that the probation officers who had been visiting and maintaining contact were no longer checking on them since they started to protest. 

She questioned the usefulness of counselling when families continued to feel abandoned and unsupported, adding that her daughter was also expected to receive counselling.

She said she would not stop protesting until the vessel was physically recovered, insisting that she wanted to see it brought to the surface with her own eyes rather than rely on announcements and promises.

Just recently, BK International was awarded a $1.034 billion contract to recover the wreck off Devonshire Castle Flats, Essequibo Coast, under a “no cure, no pay” arrangement. However, relatives have continued to question the pace of the operation and demand clarity on when the vessel will be raised.

The published award record did not specify a mobilisation or recovery deadline, the approved salvage method or the detailed conditions governing the operation.

On October 28, Venezuelan diver Luis Martinez, 66, died during diving operations at the wreck site. Police reported that he became unresponsive after entering the water and was subsequently pulled to the surface by crew members.

In a statement, BK Group Executive Chairman Brian Tiwarie said the contracted diver apparently had pre-existing medical conditions and suffered a heart attack, according to the doctor aboard the operation. The company said a full-time doctor was present during the operations.

The MV Barima tragedy claimed 73 lives, while 76 persons survived. More than three months after the sinking, relatives of those who remain missing are still hoping that recovering the vessel will provide an opportunity to retrieve their loved ones and obtain answers about what caused the disaster.

Source: Kiskadee Watch

A 23-year-old porter died on Monday after reportedly jumping from a lorry when its left wheels slipped off the Tiger Creek Main Access Road in Region One.

Dead is Arif Shadeek of the Essequibo Coast, Region Two.

According to police, the incident occurred at approximately 7.30 am as two lorries travelling in opposite directions were passing each other around a turn near a cliff.

The left wheels of the lorry in which Shadeek was travelling slipped off the roadway. Police said he reportedly jumped to avoid falling over the cliff with the vehicle and landed on the road, sustaining severe head injuries.

He was taken to the Pakera District Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The driver and another porter from the same lorry were also hospitalised. The porter was reported to be in critical condition.

Police said the driver and a porter from the other lorry were in custody assisting with the investigation.

Source: Kiskadee Watch

—rejects political labels, appeals to church leaders over MV Barima tragedy

Jasmin Cort, whose father and uncle remain missing following the MV Barima disaster, has rejected attempts to portray her campaign for answers as politically motivated, saying her protests are driven by grief and the need to bring her loved ones home.

In a video and accompanying statement posted on her Facebook page following Friday’s confrontation with police during protests coinciding with King Charles III’s visit, Cort said demanding accountability should not expose bereaved relatives to physical mistreatment.

“I am not just a protester. I am a daughter grieving a father who never came home,” she wrote.

“My grief is not a political performance. My pain is not an inconvenience. And my right to demand justice does not disappear because my voice makes others uncomfortable.”

Cort’s father, Neil Cort, and uncle, Kenrick Cort, were aboard the MV Barima when it sank on July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. The family has not recovered their remains.

She said the absence of answers and the inability to bury the two men had left her family in a continuing state of trauma.

“I never got the chance to say goodbye, or to lay them to rest in a place that I know that I can visit,” she said.

In her video, Cort recalled her father as an honest, hardworking man whose Christian faith shaped her upbringing. He prayed for her, encouraged her and was her best friend, she said.

She remembered his singing voice, his enjoyment of dominoes and the cook-up he prepared. Her uncle, whom she called “Uncle Kenny”, loved electronic dance music and made pork chow mein.

Their lives, she stressed, extended far beyond their place in the disaster. They were loved by families who missed their laughter, jokes and companionship.

Cort said grieving relatives and survivors had organised a peaceful protest at the Umana Yana on Friday to draw attention to their demands during the royal visit. She argued that the country’s difficulties and the suffering of affected families should be visible alongside the official celebrations.

Kiskadee Watch reported that a subsequent encounter behind the Pegasus Hotel, near the Kingston seawall, left Cort seated on the ground with police officers standing over her. Protesters had gathered some distance from the bandstand where the King was scheduled to greet members of the public.

“I never imagined that demanding answers about my father and uncle would lead to me being physically assaulted by the very people entrusted to protect us,” Cort wrote in her Facebook statement.

She rejected suggestions that she was being paid or acting on behalf of political parties, saying those claims avoided addressing the families’ concerns.

Cort renewed her demands for accountability and the removal of ministers Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar. She questioned why the ferry had remained in service despite reports of mechanical problems and challenged Edghill to engage directly with her family.

Minister Edghill had said there was no report indicating that the vessel was unseaworthy and that it had operated within its maintenance schedule. Records which subsequently surfaced were reported to contain urgent defects and requests for repairs in the months before the sinking. The circumstances of the disaster are the subject of a Commission of Inquiry. 

Cort also appealed to religious leaders, particularly within the Assemblies of God churches, where she said her father had spent more than half his life serving.

She questioned the absence of public statements, visits and expressions of solidarity from pastors, urging them to speak about the treatment of grieving families and their demands for justice.

Her faith, she said, continued to sustain her. She described finding a note about Father’s Day in her father’s Bible when she attended church, an experience she interpreted as reassurance that speaking up was a way of honouring him.

The family’s campaign has included repeated calls for the wreck to be recovered. Cort recently told Kiskadee Watch that relatives had received no further information on timelines, milestones or expectations for the salvage operation.

BK International was awarded a $1.034 billion contract to recover the wreck under a “no cure, no pay” arrangement, according to the procurement record previously reported by this newspaper. The published award did not set out a recovery deadline or the detailed operational arrangements. 

“Behind every placard, every protest, and every demand for justice is a human being carrying pain that the public may never fully understand,” Cort wrote.

“I am a daughter before I am a protester. And I just want my father home.”

Source: Kiskadee Watch

A woman from ‘B’ Field, Sophia says  that two police ranks repeatedly used Tasers on her inside her home after she questioned why she was being taken to the station.

Misha Pereira, speaking in a Facebook video alongside attorney-at-law and APNU parliamentarian Dexter Todd, said the November 1 incident involved a male and a female rank from the Turkeyen Police Station and left her with burns, marks and pain.

Todd called for Pereira to lodge a complaint with the Guyana Police Force’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), saying her account raised serious questions about the use of force and compliance with procedures.

According to Todd’s account of her complaint, police responding to a domestic dispute approached Pereira while she was in her bedroom and told her she had to accompany them to the station.

He said Pereira asked why she was being taken into custody, after which the officers used their devices without warning. Todd maintained that, according to her account, she had neither fought with the ranks nor resisted arrest.

“She has a right to ask why am I being arrested. She asked for her phone. They took her phone away. Now this is in her house, you know,” he said.

Pereira alleged that the officers stood on either side of her and used the devices simultaneously. She estimated that she was shocked between 20 and 30 times.

“Both of them at the same time. One on the left and one on the right,” she said.

She said she became weak and fell before being handcuffed.

“They tase me so bad I got burns, marks to show. My body is in pain,” Pereira said.

“I guess if they didn’t stop I would have been the next victim.”

Todd said photographs had been taken of marks on several parts of her body, including her neck, legs and buttocks.

According to him, Pereira was taken to the station and subsequently released after explaining what had occurred at her home.

Todd said the PNCR/APNU opposed the indiscriminate use of Tasers and would support Pereira in pursuing a complaint.

“We are going to have to encourage you to report this to the Office of Professional Responsibility and have them investigate this matter,” he said.

He added  that her account warranted scrutiny of whether the officers had followed procedures governing use of the devices.

Todd also referred to the separate death of a man following his detention at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station.

Source: Kiskadee Watch