By Sue-Ann Wayow
BASED on evidence already acquired, Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd Incident Management Team (IMT) took too long in its efforts to attempt to rescue the four underwater divers who died in February.
This is according to senior counsel to the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the Paria-LMCS tragedy Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.
Maharaj spent hours between Wednesday and Thursday grilling Paria’s Terminal Manager Collin Piper who stands by his decision to shut down all diving rescue efforts which he said were necessary to preserve the lives of the potential rescuers.
On Thursday just before he took his seat before the CoE went on lunch, Maharaj said, “Mr Piper, I want to suggest to you that the evidence shows that the IMT at Paria was moving slow, very slow to rescue the persons in the pipeline.”
Piper, IMT’s Incident Commander, said, “I understand your suggestion sir but I want to state to you that that is not correct. Under those circumstances, I am declaring to you that the IMT was making every effort to rescue those men and to protect the lives of the responders.”
Maharaj also suggested that based on evidence, alternatives were available such as the willingness of LMCS divers to venture into the pipeline which was refused by Paria based on information from other expert divers.
Earlier on Thursday, Maharaj also said expert advice should have been sought on the accident that occurred at berth #6, instead of heavy reliance on camera footage.
Maharaj referred to a report by In-Corr Tech Ltd following their investigation of the accident that caused a hazardous Delta-P situation. The company is based in San Fernando.
He pointed to the report while questioning Piper and stated he was not going to allow anyone to dive inside the pipe without fully knowing what was the situation inside, information cameras would have provided.
However, it was not until hours later that a camera would be inserted, according to records.
The In-Corr Tech report stated, “Prior to Mr Christopher Boodram’s rescue, the entire system stabilised and equalised itself at both ends of SL36 and thus allowed Mr Boodram to negotiate the pipe without any disruptions as the system was static.
“This condition was the best opportunity to attempt a rescue as removing the blank at berth #5 or shutting down the compressor would have released the stored potential energy from the compressed air and thus disturb the equilibrium and thereby imperil any divers in air pockets.”
Maharaj hitting the report, told Piper, “If you had contacted an expert and did not look for cameras, you would have been able to know that the pipeline was safe for diving.”
But Piper told Maharaj, “I don’t know what that is based on.”
Piper repeated that Paria’s Technical and Maintenance Michael Wei was contacted and through him, an expert from Offshore Technology Solutions Limited (OTSL) was spoken to who informed Piper about the Delta-P situation and the uncertainties of the situation.
Delta-P considered
Piper earlier had said about an hour after he was informed of the accident that occurred around 2. 45 pm, while not calling it by name then, he considered the possibility that the men were sucked into the pipeline.
By 8 pm, the first formal discussion about Delta-P took place.
Piper said, “I knew the men were drawn into the pipe, I did not know what caused it.”
The camera footage was extremely important.
Maharaj had asked, “If you had fear of another Delta-P, you wouldn’t have been looking for camera, you would have been looking for an expert to tell you whether or not another Delta-P could have occurred. … Would cameras show you if another Delta-P would take place?”
It was then that Piper told Maharaj about the conversation with OTSL who advised that until Paria could be certain about no occurrence of a second Delta-P, it would have been a dangerous decision to send divers in.
Later on, Lynch asked, “Did it ever occur to you that you were seeking perfection, a degree of knowledge that could only come with perfection?”
“No sir,” was Piper’s response.
LMCS divers courageous
Piper also described LMCS divers Michael Kurban and Conan Beddoe as courageous young men for willing to risk their lives to save another.
As manager, he also had a responsibility to those men and could not allow them to risk their lives in a seemingly unknown situation especially if they were strongly emotionally attached.
He also said having known Kazim Ali Sr for about 30 years, since the operations of Petrotrin, he also knew Kazim Ali Jr, his son and it was upsetting to him to learn of the accident that eventually claimed his life.
