Moonilal: Priority is support for lost divers' families, not blame

OPPOSITION MP Dr Roodal Moonilal consoled the families of the four divers presumed dead by Paria Fuel Trading Company in Pointe-a-Pierre on Sunday night.

The families of divers Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Kazim Ali Jr and Yusuf Henry gathered outside Heritage Petroleum, long before and after Paria's executive management called a press conference to announce that its operation had "now moved from a rescue to recovery mission."

Several management statements about Paria's rescue mission made during the controversial media conference were disputed by the victims' relatives and others who had followed events closely since the men were sucked into a 36-inch underwater pipeline on Friday afternoon.

"We want at this time to extend great solidarity, we want to extend strength to the relatives of our comrades, divers," Moonilal said.

The Oropouche MP said he felt it was his duty to comfort the families, but suggested the public hold off on its outrage temporarily and offer support to the relatives.

Those responsible, he said, will be held to account.

"Given where we are, there will be many hours, many days, there may be months, too, in which we will discuss this matter, and we will cast blame and we will talk about responsibility, accountability, protocols, and so on.

"There are hours to come where we will do that, but at this time, I wanted to share with that we are in solidarity with you," he told the families.

"And not withstanding the grave nature of this crisis and what we may feel, many of us have very passionate feelings about this now as to what is happening. But this is not the moment and this is not the time. The moment and the time will come.

"To the families, we want to give you our strength, our support (and) something will happen. We will bring closure."

Pointe-a-Pierre MP and Opposition whip David Lee visited and spoke with the families on Sunday.

He hosted a media conference that morning chiding Paria and the government for their "cruel" treatment of the families, saying they were not even accommodated with proper shelter, washroom facilities or other necessities while they waited for news of the divers.

Progressive Empowerment Party political leader Phillip Alexander was also present and hosted a live media conference during which he and family members challenged statements made by Paria's chairman Newman George, general manager Mushtaq Mohammed and operations manager Collin Piper at the press conference about the company's rescue efforts.