{"id":32310,"date":"2026-10-07T19:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=32310"},"modified":"2026-10-07T19:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:37:18","slug":"mv-barima-coi-vows-independent-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/mv-barima-coi-vows-independent-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"MV Barima\u00a0COI\u00a0vows independent probe\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>-A<\/strong><strong>s plans advance to raise vessel<\/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 Commission of Inquiry into the MV Barima tragedy is promising an independent, evidence-driven investigation, as preparations advance to raise the sunken vessel for forensic examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commission Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith says the inquiry will follow the evidence wherever it leads, without fear or favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the Commission begins its work to determine what caused the MV Barima tragedy, efforts are advancing to bring the vessel back to the surface&nbsp;-a critical step that could provide investigators with new evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner and Naval Architect Dr. Andrzej Jasionowski says discussions have already been held with a potential salvage team on how the vessel will be raised and preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He says arrangements are nearing completion, with the salvage operation expected to begin possibly this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c<strong>The salvage operation will commence possibly this month\u00a0and we will be informed of the\u00a0progress and the steps along\u00a0the way and possibly we will also witness the operations. This is a matter that is ongoing but it is very close to being finalized<\/strong>,\u201d he said. <br>The National Tender Board has confirmed that the BK International has been awarded the contract for the salvaging of the MV Barima.\u00a0Meanwhile, Commission Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith sought to assure the public that its investigation will be conducted independently.\u00a0Justice Smith says the Commission has no predetermined view about what caused the tragedy and will rely on credible and tested evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile we have been appointed by His Excellency, the president has received our terms of reference from him and will in due course deliver a report to him, we are not an arm of the government or indeed of any other institution or entity. Our allegiance is to the law to our terms of reference, to procedural fairness and above all the truth established by credible, tested evidence,\u201d he explained. <br>Justice Smith says the Commission will follow the evidence wherever it leads and ultimately recommend measures aimed at strengthening Guyana\u2019s maritime safety system and preventing a similar tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The inquiry will scrutinise the MV Barima\u2019s seaworthiness, stability, machinery, maintenance, certification and inspection history, as well as whether the vessel complied with safety and regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Investigators will also examine how passengers boarded the vessel and how cargo was loaded as they work to establish the circumstances that led to the tragedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-As plans advance to raise vessel -by Kimberly Giddings The Commission of Inquiry into the MV Barima tragedy is promising an independent, evidence-driven investigation, as preparations advance to raise the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[350],"tags":[488,370,412,405],"class_list":["post-32310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-488","tag-guyana","tag-ncn-guyana","tag-ncn-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310","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=32310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32311,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310\/revisions\/32311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}