The men who read the sea and found the MV Barima

As expert rescue vessels criss-crossed the Atlantic searching for the missing MV Barima, two brothers relied on something no radar, sonar or satellite could provide – decades of reading the sea. For veteran Essequibo fishermen Haresh Singh, his younger brother, Deonarine Singh, the ocean tells its own story. It was that instinct that helped them become the first civilians to reach survivors after the passenger and cargo vessel capsized late on Saturday. About 24 hours later, the same instincts led them to the Barima’s resting place beneath the sea, providing a breakthrough that transformed the search into a recovery operation. Their discovery gave authorities the location they needed to begin recovering victims and piecing together what happened aboard one of Guyana’s worst maritime disasters. “My job was to find the boat and let the families know what happened, where the boat is,” Haresh said after returning from sea. “Well, I did my job.” The brothers are among a close-knit community of fishermen from the Essequibo Coast whose livelihoods depend on understanding the ever-changing waters between the coast and the North West District. The MV Barima When the Barima capsized, that local knowledge became one of the country’s most valuable rescue tools. On Sunday morning, the brothers helped direct search efforts towards the waters off Hackney, where they believed survivors would have drifted. They later spotted the flashing locator light – known among fishermen as the “winky” – attached to a life raft. Around it were exhausted passengers who had spent hours in the open sea. Their boat rescued 11 survivors before returning to shore with several children who urgently needed medical attention. But it was Monday’s mission that would prove decisive. While official search teams scanned a wide stretch of ocean, the brothers focused on something almost invisible – a faint line of oil stretching across the water. “We searched from Hampton Court to Better Success,” Haresh said. “I trusted my brother to captain the boat.” Veteran fisherman Haresh Singh As they drifted over one area, something caught Haresh’s attention. “I saw one little spot of oil,” he recalled. “And the smell… it was very, very rank.” The current was behaving differently. The fishermen carefully positioned their boat and followed the slick. Soon afterwards, they spotted a yellow mooring line breaking the surface. They hooked onto it. “We knew it was the boat there.” Moments later, the sea confirmed what they feared. Bodies began rising to the surface. The Guyana Coast Guard, which arrived afterwards, began recovering the victims while the fishermen remained on site until nightfall. “We waited until 6:30. It was getting late,” Haresh said. The vessel was not where many had initially believed it had sunk. Instead, the brothers determined it lay offshore between Dartmouth and Better Success, a location they recorded using GPS before alerting authorities. “We know that area very well,” Haresh said simply. He was quick to credit others involved in the search, particularly fellow fishermen who joined the effort. “I have to say thanks to all the fishermen.” For Deonarine, 36, the rescue and recovery mission drew on skills acquired over a lifetime. Fishing is more than an occupation in his family. It is a tradition stretching back generations. “I’ve been fishing for 20 years, since I left Anna Regina Multilateral,” he said. ” Our entire background is fishing.” This was also far from his first emergency at sea. It marked his 11th rescue mission. Among the rescues he remembers most vividly was March 2023, when his own brother, Haresh, nearly lost his life after his fishing boat sank in exceptionally rough seas. The Coast Guard had been reluctant to venture out because conditions were so dangerous. Deonarine Singh Powerful waves rolled over the vessel, injuring one crew member. Haresh and the rest of the crew survived only by clinging to an ice box, sections of the boat and other floating debris while wearing life jackets. That experience, Deonarine says, reinforced one lesson above all others – the sea must be respected. This week, it was that respect, combined with decades of experience, that helped the brothers read subtle signs others could easily have overlooked. In the end, it was not sophisticated equipment that revealed the Barima’s final resting place. It was fishermen. And in Haresh Singh’s eyes, every fisherman who answered the call is a hero. Few in Guyana would disagree.