By Chantalé Fletcher
THE diver rescued after an incident at Paria Fuel Trading Company at Pointe-a-Pierre on Friday is Covid-19 positive.
He is being treated at the San Fernando General Hospital and therefore was unable to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy in La Brea on Saturday morning.
Christopher Boodram was rescued after he and four of his colleagues were sucked into a sea line at Berth 6 on Friday just around 3 pm. Paria stated in a release on Saturday, that an operation was still ongoing regarding the four missing men.
The missing men have been identified as Yusuf Henry, Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar and Kazim Ali Jr whose father owns LMCS Limited – the company contracted by Paria to do the maintenance works on the 36-inch line.
Boodram was expected to receive treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber on Saturday with Hull Support Services Ltd, a company that dealt with offshore commercial diving and International Marine Contractors Association (ICMA) located in the Industrial Estate in La Brea.
But the officials were told by the company that Boodram was Covid-19 positive and will have to wait on the treatment when he was discharged from the hospital when he is being monitored.
AZPNews.com got an insight into Table 6 (USN TT6 treatment) that the diver is expected to undergo from Hull’s diving supervisors Anthony Nivet and Audie Samaroo.
Samaroo said the decompression should have been done as soon as a diver comes out of the water, but in circumstances like this where the diver misses the decompression time, he will be given what is called omitted decompression.
Nivet, an experienced diver for the past 35 years told AZPNews.com that the company used a set of tables for any diving related illness or injury, called DCIEM tables or the US Navy Tables.
He said, “They were set tables which would indicate how long the diver can stay underwater and determine his treatment to bring him out from the depth that he went to.”
Nivert explained that diving and decompression dealt with depth and time.
He said the facility was mainly to treat divers at the company, but it was also open to treating members of the diving public he described as a community.
“As we tend to support one another, especially in times of emergencies like this,” Nivet said.
He said, “What we do know is that five guys were in a habitat and there was an incident and they lost the camera view of the guys.”
Process of Table 6 Treatment
Boodram would undergo a Table 6 decompression styled treatment also helped to deal with any compression sickness.
Nivet said, “The diver would be placed in a recompression chamber, in which he would be blown down to 60 feet and gradually bring him up.
“He would be breathing oxygen, as this treatment would be to remove any nitrogen in his system. As when you dive, your body goes through a lot of physiological changes, stress on the bones.”
This treatment also helped divers’ bodies to return to normal atmospheric pressure after a dive.
He said, “The treatment was to ensure that the diver comes to the surface after a period of time, depending on the depth that he was and the time he spent there.”
Audie Samaroo, a life support technician and a diver with a wealth of experience in the marine industry for more than 37 years would be the one operating the chamber.
Nivet said the company followed the tables strictly as they have been tested and proven over the years, but the procedure itself, many take just over five hours.
“Diving was a dangerous field, so you need to be on top of your game.”
He added that Hull Support Services worked with ICMA guidelines and such all their divers were certified due to many studies and examinations.
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