{"id":31741,"date":"2026-09-02T19:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T23:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=31741"},"modified":"2026-09-02T19:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T23:28:11","slug":"coi-begins-work-on-mv-barima-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/coi-begins-work-on-mv-barima-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"COI\u00a0begins\u00a0work on MV Barima\u00a0tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8211;<strong>p<\/strong><strong>ublic\u00a0<\/strong><strong>h<\/strong><strong>earings to\u00a0<\/strong><strong>s<\/strong><strong>tart\u00a0<\/strong><strong>s<\/strong><strong>oon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">-by Kimberly Giddings <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0Commission of Inquiry\u00a0appointed to\u00a0investigate\u00a0the\u00a0circumstances surrounding the\u00a0MV Barima tragedy\u00a0commenced\u00a0preparatory\u00a0work, with public hearings\u00a0expected to begin shortly.<br><br>Speaking on his&nbsp;Issues in the News programme, Attorney General, Anil&nbsp;Nandlall&nbsp;said there is significant legal work to be done, including the replacement of legal documents, administering the estates of those who died, and ensuring the legal interests of their beneficiaries are protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the team will also have to deal with applications to declare missing persons legally dead, while meeting with relatives to gather information needed to determine beneficiaries and other persons affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nandlall\u00a0said legal research is also being conducted to establish the necessary framework and provide legal advice to Government as it considers recommended financial assistance for affected families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c<strong>This is not compensation, it\u2019s not intended to be compensation, first of all the government is not admitting liability here, the government is offering assistance. Naturally any person who will be engaged will be advised that they have a right to retain and instruct lawyers of their choice if they wish<\/strong>,\u201d he said. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nandlall said this initiative of the government includes both long term and short term support for the affected persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commission, chaired by former Belizean Justice of Appeal Godfrey Smith, began preparations immediately upon appointment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a release, the commission said it&nbsp;conducted a preliminary&nbsp;in -person&nbsp;survey of the accident site and secured the Arthur Chung Conference Centre as the venue for&nbsp;hearings&nbsp;which will be opened to&nbsp;the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A&nbsp;secretariat has been established for administrative and logistical support,&nbsp;and a&nbsp;list of potential witnesses is being compiled, while officials are preparing a preliminary schedule for witness interviews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211;public\u00a0hearings to\u00a0start\u00a0soon -by Kimberly Giddings The\u00a0Commission of Inquiry\u00a0appointed to\u00a0investigate\u00a0the\u00a0circumstances surrounding the\u00a0MV Barima tragedy\u00a0commenced\u00a0preparatory\u00a0work, with public hearings\u00a0expected to begin shortly. Speaking on his&nbsp;Issues in the News programme, Attorney General, Anil&nbsp;Nandlall&nbsp;said there&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[469,350],"tags":[488,1161,370,775,1151,412,405],"class_list":["post-31741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-affairs","category-news","tag-488","tag-coi","tag-guyana","tag-ministry-of-legal-affairs","tag-mv-barima","tag-ncn-guyana","tag-ncn-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31742,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31741\/revisions\/31742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}