Oct 14, 2026
2 min read
The emergency beacon aboard the MV Barima was not registered, leaving air traffic officials unable to identify the vessel when its distress signal was received, a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) heard on Wednesday.
Director of Air Navigation Services at the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Rickford Samaroo told the CoI, which began hearings at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, that without registration and vessel information, the coordination centre could not determine which vessel had transmitted the signal.
The first three witnesses testified on the opening day of the inquiry into the tragedy.
Samaroo said the authority receives distress alerts and forwards relevant information to the agencies responsible for responding. Processing and delivering a signal typically takes three to five minutes, he said, while control tower personnel may need up to seven minutes to plot coordinates, verify information and notify the relevant authorities.
Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) Officer Tia Valenzuela, who was on duty at the air traffic control tower, said the first distress message arrived at 10:43pm through the Aeronautical Message Handling System.
She confirmed that the beacon's HEX identification code was unregistered, meaning there was no owner information and she could not identify its owner or anyone associated with it.
Valenzuela said she sent the initial plotted coordinates and the beacon identification code to the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard's operations mobile by WhatsApp at 10:51pm. The Coast Guard responded a minute later.
At 11:13pm, she said, she received a message indicating that one of the Coast Guard's units was en route. She also contacted other parties, including the lighthouse, and later forwarded updated coordinates.
Valenzuela also testified that another staff member had permission to leave early, leaving her to assume responsibility for the watch.
Her evidence prompted questions from commissioners about training, staffing and procedures for handling multiple alerts.
The Commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the sinking, including vessel safety, crew operations, regulatory oversight and the search-and-rescue response.
