MV Barima COI to begin next month- Ali

Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, 6:03 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday said the anxiously awaited Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the sinking of the MV Barima ferry that claimed the lives of more than 100 persons would begin next month.

“In relation to the COI, the team is in place. They have started looking at their procedures, settling their procedures, and working all their work plan, and from what I’m told in early September, the actual work would commence here on the ground,” he told a news conference.

He again dismissed calls by multiple opposition parties, civil society activists and individuals for minister responsible for public ferries, Juan Edghill and minister responsible for Maritime Administration (MARAD), Deodat Indar to be removed from office.

“I believe that if we honestly and fully want an independent analysis, a transparent analysis, then the COI, having been established, provides that opportunity. That is why the independence of the COI was critical and important to us. The COI, having been established, will conduct its work, make its determination, its recommendation, and then we’ll take it from there. I will not prejudice any action. Save and exit those that are essential in the period from now to the end of the COI, which include looking at the safety,” he said.

Dr Ali said by last Friday’s deadline about 10 companies had submitted proposals to salvage the vessel. He said they would be shortlisted and then invited to send in proposed costs to raise the wreck of the 87-year old vessel that was on a Georgetown-Port Kaituma journey when it sank on July 19. The salvager is required to preserve all forensic evidence for the COI.

Of the estimated 179 passengers and crew who were aboard the MV Barima, 72 bodies were recovered, 30 could not be accounted for and 76 rescued.

The captain, chief mate and the Transport and Harbours Department’s Goods Superintendent have since been charged with murder.

The five-member Commission of Inquiry is made up of:

• Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry Justice Godfrey Philip Smith of Belize, CARICOM High Level Representative for Law and Criminal Justice and an ad hoc justice of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal;
• Dr. Andrzej Jasionowski of Poland, Naval Architect and Marine Engineer, who has advised on investigations into several major maritime disasters;
• Captain Hamada Fouda, Senior Maritime Surveyor and Compliance Auditor with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica;
• Ms. Nyree Dawn Alfonso of Trinidad and Tobago, Attorney at Law with expertise in Admirality and Maritime Law, and
• Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Hayden A. Pritchard of Trinidad and Tobago, a distinguished professional with decades of experience in maritime operations and maritime security