Relatives of missing divers dispute Paria statements

RELATIVES of the four divers who went missing while working on a 36-inch underwater crude oil pipeline in Pointe-a-Pierre on February 25 said they were surprised by the announcement from Paria Fuel Trading Company, that the operation had changed from "rescue" to "recovery."

They also said that contrary to statements by Paria chairman Newman George on Sunday, they were not given advance notice of this change.

The missing divers are Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Kazim Ali Jr and Yusuf Henry.

A fifth diver, Christopher Boodram, was rescued shortly after the incident on February 25. He is resting in stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.

George, Paria general manager Mushtaq Mohammed and terminal operations manager Collin Piper announced the operation's change from rescue to recovery at a news conference at the former Petrotrin staff club in Pointe-a-Pierre shortly after 8 pm on Sunday.

They said this was based on consultation among Paria, the coast guard, LMCS Ltd (the divers’ employer), expert divers and other stakeholders, after it was dedeided it was unlikely the men had survived.

Expressing the company's condolences to the divers' families, George said, "This has not been an easy decision."

A water displacement process would be used, he said, to gently move the divers' bodies along the pipeline “so they can be collected with dignity and respect” at Berth 6, where the incident happened, and returned to their families.

After saying the company had been doing its best to keep the families and the public informed of efforts to find the missing divers, George said the news that they were dead was shared with relatives before the news conference.

"We did not take that decision (to announce the shift from rescue to recovery) unilaterally."

But some of the relatives of the missing divers said Paria officials did not communicate directly with them before the news conference.

Nicole Greenidge, mother of Yusuf Henry, said, "Paria said in the press conference that they contacted families, that they contacted us about their last-resort move.

"That is total, total lie."

She said no one from Paria contacted the families "up to now about this.

"Every other family (of the missing divers) can attest to that."

Greenidge also said the families were told through WhatsApp messages to tune in to the Paria news conference. She reiterated, "No one contacted us."

Greenidge said the families have not received any update from Paria either about when the bodies of the missing men might be recovered.

"Not at this moment. We have not received any kind of communication."

She said relatives of the missing men will continue to wait outside Heritage Petroleum's administrative building in Pointe-a-Pierre for word on when they have been found.

"We want closure. We want something."

If the men are presumed dead,. Greenidge said, "Present their bodies. Let's get some kind of closure."

Nicholas Kurban, son of Fyzal Kurban, also said Paria has not told the families when the men would be found.

Kurban, who is also a diver, did not understand why people having been posting on social media that the divers are dead.

"I am a diver too. I've dived the line already and there are a lot of air spaces."

Kurban added that only when the men are retrieved could it be confirmed whether they are dead.

He also said Paria did not tell the families directly on Sunday about the operation changing from rescue to recovery, and that information came to the families from other sources.

Relatives of the Nagassar and Ali families, who declined to give their names, also said Paria did not tell them before its press conference about efforts to recover the missing divers.