Diver dies during MV Barima salvage — and the public only found out four days later
A diver working on the salvage of the MV Barima died during a dive at the wreck site on October 28 — but the public did not learn about it until four days later, when the Guyana Police Force confirmed the incident on November 1.
Luis Martinez, a 66-year-old Venezuelan national, was contracted through the Venezuelan firm Salvamentos del Caribe C.A. to dive for BK International, the company awarded the G$1.034 billion contract to recover the sunken ferry.
According to the police, Martinez left Kingston Wharf, Georgetown at about 5:14 p.m. on October 28 with other crew members, for a dive about 10 nautical miles off Anna Regina, on the Essequibo Coast. He entered the water at about 6:30 p.m. and failed to resurface after about 20 minutes. Crew members pulled him up by a rope attached to his body. He was motionless.
He was taken to the Transport and Harbours Department Wharf at Stabroek, Georgetown, where he was pronounced dead by a doctor at about 2:30 a.m. on October 29. Police said there were no visible signs of violence on the exposed parts of his body, and that a post-mortem examination was required. An investigation was announced.
What killed him has not been established. BK International said information from a doctor aboard the salvage operation suggested Martinez had pre-existing medical conditions and had apparently suffered a heart attack. That is the contractor’s account only — no independently verified medical cause has been publicly established, and police were still to release the post-mortem findings as of November 4.
BK said the operation was being conducted in accordance with strict safety procedures, and that arrangements were being made to help Martinez’s family repatriate his remains to Venezuela.
A week after the death, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) had not indicated whether it had launched a probe into the incident. News Source reported that senior MARAD officials only became aware of the death when media reports surfaced four days after it happened. Questions have also been raised about the decision to take Martinez to Georgetown rather than seek medical help closer to the dive site, and about what diving procedures, equipment and emergency arrangements were in place.
The secrecy around the salvage has drawn fire from MP Amanza Walton, leader of the Forward Guyana Movement and a maritime attorney. Walton says the salvage began without public notice, with no Notice to Mariners from MARAD and no Receiver of Wreck consent under the Merchant Shipping Act — and that the diver’s death is the only reason the public learned the work had begun. She has called for accountability and for citizens to demand action.
The Barima capsized on July 18, 2026, with 179 people aboard; 73 were killed, 76 were rescued and about 30 are still missing. The remains of the missing are yet to be recovered, and families of the victims are continuing to protest until the vessel is raised.
BK International was awarded the G$1.034 billion salvage contract under a “no cure, no pay” arrangement. The published award record set no mobilisation or recovery deadline.
The murder case against Captain Kevin Price, Chief Mate Rondell Dwayne Roberts and goods superintendent Delon Granderson — charged over the sinking — is set for paper committal beginning November 16. A Commission of Inquiry into the sinking, established in September, is hearing evidence.
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