Dr. Bulkan Says Government Has Duty to Raise MV Barima, Warns Rule of Law Must Guide Response

Academic and Indigenous rights advocate Dr. Janette Bulkan has mounted a searing critique of the Government’s handling of the MV Barima tragedy, arguing that the State has both a moral and legal duty to raise the sunken vessel, recover those still trapped inside and ensure its response is governed by law rather than political expediency.

In three strongly worded letters to the press, Bulkan contends that the Government’s initial reluctance to salvage the State-owned ferry prolonged the anguish of grieving families and risked compromising both justice and the recovery of vital evidence.

The MV Barima capsized late on July 18 while sailing from Georgetown to Port Kaituma, Region One, with an estimated 179 passengers and crew on board. According to official figures, 76 people were rescued, 73 bodies have been recovered and about 30 people remain unaccounted for. The disaster, one of Guyana’s deadliest maritime tragedies, devastated Indigenous communities in the North West and triggered nationwide protests demanding accountability, justice and the recovery of the wreck.

Bulkan’s second letter drew a powerful comparison with Canada’s search for the remains of Indigenous women Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, who were murdered in 2022 by convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Although Canadian authorities initially refused to search the Prairie Green Landfill where the women were believed to have been buried—citing cost, complexity and safety concerns—their families persisted. After Wabanakwut “Wab” Kinew was elected Premier of Manitoba in 2023, his government committed funding for the search, which eventually led to the recovery of the women’s remains in early 2025 so they could be returned to their families for burial.

Bulkan argues that if Canadian authorities could undertake such an expensive and technically challenging operation for victims murdered by a psychopath, Guyana has an even greater obligation to recover citizens who perished aboard a State-owned ferry.

“The Indigenous women, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, did not die while traveling in a State-owned and run ferry. They died at the hands of a psychopath,” Bulkan wrote.

She noted that search crews worked through the Canadian winter, excavating and examining thousands of tonnes of landfill in what many described as searching for “a needle in a haystack.”

Bulkan argued that Guyana has both the means and the obligation to recover those still believed to be trapped inside the MV Barima.

“To retrieve the drowned passengers the wreck has to be moved, and preferably raised,” she wrote.

She also pointed to the availability of specialised recovery equipment in the region, noting that the Normand Installer, a specialised offshore subsea construction and recovery vessel, had been in Trinidad and was heading to Guyanese waters under contract to assist with the installation of mooring anchors for SBM Offshore’s One Guyana Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.

As of Monday, vessel-tracking data showed the Multi Purpose Offshore Vessel Normand Installer is currently located off the North Coast of South America.

“Please let us not have to await a change of government for the MV Barima to be raised, and for the remains of the precious souls inside to be returned to their loved ones for dignified burial, and for our nation to begin healing.”

Since Bulkan’s appeal—and following sustained public pressure from grieving families, Indigenous leaders, civil society organisations, trade unions, maritime stakeholders and Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed—the Government has softened its earlier position. On Saturday, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) issued an Expression of Interest inviting qualified firms to undertake the salvage of the MV Barima.

The announcement marked a significant shift after weeks of resistance to calls for the wreck to be raised. However, many Guyanese remain sceptical that the salvage will proceed without continued public pressure, pointing to what they see as a pattern of reactive governance in which decisive action follows public outrage rather than anticipating and addressing problems before they become national crises.

In another letter, Bulkan broadened her criticism, accusing President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali of overlooking the legal framework governing maritime disasters.

“Could I ask leader Mohd. Irfaan Ali to govern as a 21st century president rather than an early mediaeval monarch operating without a corpus of national law?” she wrote.

Her criticism followed the President’s announcement of a new Safety, Compliance and Audit Team for the maritime sector. Bulkan argued that the initiative made no reference to the national laws and international conventions already binding on Guyana.

She noted that Guyana is a party to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Convention and the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), obligations which she says require the country to convene a fully independent maritime safety investigation under internationally recognised procedures.

According to Bulkan, that investigation should take precedence over the Presidential Commission of Inquiry established under the Commission of Inquiry Act. She also argues that the Government has overlooked the Coroners Act, which requires a coroner’s inquest into deaths arising from incidents such as the sinking.

Bulkan further questioned the decision to charge three surviving transport workers with murder before those investigative processes have been completed, while urging the Director of Public Prosecutions to examine longstanding allegations of health and safety breaches involving ferries operated by the Transport and Harbours Department.

She also called on the Auditor General to investigate why substantial expenditure on ferry maintenance and repairs since 2020 failed to produce what should have been a seaworthy vessel and criticised the Government for swearing in members of the Commission of Inquiry before publishing its Terms of Reference.

Her strongest warning, however, was reserved for the Government’s initial reluctance to recover the wreck.

“The government attempts to avoid raising the ferry wreck could well be viewed as deliberate obstruction of justice for the families of those still missing,” Bulkan wrote.

Her letters add to the growing chorus demanding that the Government not only raise the MV Barima but also ensure that every aspect of its response—from the recovery of victims to the investigation into the tragedy—is conducted transparently, independently and in strict accordance with the law.