By Prior Beharry
PARIA Fuel Trading Company Limited (Paria) has stated that the decision to prevent another rescue attempt to help save four divers stuck in a sea line was supported by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.
In a release on Thursday, Paria stated, “With respect to the media release dated March 7, 2022, Paria also takes this opportunity to clarify and reinforce that the decision to prevent further entry by LMCS divers into the 30-inch pipeline during the search and rescue exercise on Friday 25, February 2022 was made by Paria and supported by the TT Coast guard and other external experts.”
LMCS stated that it had the manpower to carry out a rescue operation for the four divers and provided Paria with the methodology. But it stated that it was prevented by Paria and the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.
The company was contracted by Paria Fuel Trading Company to do maintenance on the pipeline at Berth 6 and the divers were all employed by LMCS including the only son of the company’s managing director.
Kazim Ali Jr, Yusuff Henry, Fyzal Kurban and Rishi Nagassar all lost their lives in the incident on February 25. Christopher Boodram was the sole surviving diver.
Following the incident, LMCS was taken off all work from the pipelines.
In its latest release, Paria stated that it welcomed the decision to set up a commission of enquiry into the incident and looked forward to presenting the facts on the incident.
It stated, “OSH is currently conducting its own investigation into the incident and PARIA is fully committed to making available all relevant documents and information to the investigating team, and we look forward to the completion of the investigation.”
