Wife identifies fourth diver in Paria mishap

The wife of underwater diver Rishi Nagassar positively identified his body on Thursday morning at the Forensic Science Centre, St James.

Vanessa Kussie was accompanied by her son, and relatives Angi Benjamin and Allan Seepersad.

As she exited the building, Kussie was overcome with grief making it difficult for her to walk.

She did not speak with the media and was quickly taken to a vehicle.

Benjamin told reporters Nagassar's body remained intact and looked better than the others. His autopsy will be done on Monday.

Paria issued a media release in the wee hours on Thursday stating that Nagassar's body was recovered at about 12.36 am.

His body was the last to be recovered. The bodies of Kazim Ali Jr, Yusuf Henry and Fyzal Kurban were found on Monday and taken to the Forensic Science Centre where they were identified by relatives.

The autopsy of Henry was being done after 1 pm.

Newsday was unable to determine when the other autopsies will be done.

Five divers were doing maintenance work when they were pulled into an underwater pipeline at a berth on the compound of Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd in Pointe-a-Pierre on February 25. Only one of them, Christopher Boodram, survived and remains hospitalised.