Survivor welcomes prosecution for Paria deaths

PARIA diving tragedy survivor Christopher Boodram lamented the continued neglect of victims' families, even as the Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) prosecuted three culprits and announced consultations on new diving regulations. He told Newsday on July 11 the families had received no state help, despite a strong plea for no-fault compassionate assistance by Jerome Lynch, chairman of the commission of enquiry (CoE) into the tragedy.

San Fernando magistrate Alicia Chankar  held a virtual hearing on July 10 at which OSHA's Insp Brisbane laid criminal charges against Paria’s general manager Mushtaq Mohammed, operations manager Colin Piper, and Land and Marine and Construction Services (LMCS) head Kazim Ali Snr.

The charges were not read aloud, owing to objections by the defendants' attorneys, but are expected to be read when the case resumes on September 11.

On February 25, 2022, five divers – Boodram, Kazim Ali Jr, Rishi Nagassar, Fyzal Kurban and Yusuf Henry – were repairing a 30-inch pipeline at Paria’s facility at Pointe-a-Pierre when they were sucked into it by a sudden change in water pressure called a delta p event. Only Boodram managed to get out alive.

The CoE report was delivered to President Christine Kangaloo on November 30, 2023, and laid in Parliament by Energy Minister Stuart Young on January 19, 2023.

The inquiry blamed Paria and LMCS for unsafe work procedures when the emptying of oil from the pipeline caused the delta p event. Paria came under scrutiny for blocking unofficial rescue efforts for the trapped men but argued it did not want more lives to be put at risk by allowing more divers into the pipe.

The report had recommended corporate manslaughter charges against Paria and LMCS.

In an advert send to media houses on July 11, OSHA announced a stakeholder consultation to create a policy for drafting commercial diving regulations, to be held on July 25 from 9 am-3 pm at the Radisson Hotel, Port of Spain.

Newsday sought reactions to the prosecution for violations of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, contacting Boodram, Celisha Kurban (Kurban's widow) and Vanessa Kussie (Nagassar's widow.) Neither Celisha Kurban nor Vanessa Kussie had heard of the start of the prosecutions.

Kurban told Newsday, "I don't know anything."

Asked how things were going otherwise, she replied despondently, "Nothing is good. Nothing has improved.

"We are just hanging in there."

Kussie said, "No, I did not hear anything about it. This is news to me. I have no comment right now."
She let out a sob.

Boodram told Newsday he had some faith in "getting justice" from the trial, but also lamented the lack of help for families.

"I am glad it has started. I also believe we should be able to get some of these people to be held accountable for what was done," he said.

"Everything they did, they are not remorseful – all of this that happened and how they treated the families.

"They are not remorseful. They move like they don't care. They don't even try to extend a hand.

"I hope we get some level of justice."

Newsday asked if they got any help after Lynch upbraided the State.

Boodram replied, "No. Nothing. No.

"They don't care. This might be the first time in the history of the world that a state-owned company with an accident so serious has treated the people so."

He said if an international firm like BP ever had an accident, it would make sure it dealt with it swiftly in terms of helping victims' families.

"But Paria? They might quicker send a donation to one of those countries hit by Hurricane Beryl than see about us."

Boodram was glad the inquiry had happened but lamented that its recommendations had allegedly not been enacted.

"I really believe the inquiry was necessary."

Contrasting the $15 million cost of the inquiry to the nil compensation paid to families, he said, "Now you are showing the $15 million is not worth anything. You spend $15 million and when it finished, you put none of the recommendations.

"That $15 million was a pappyshow. They just throw that at the people to get us to shut up and to move on."

He believed people had forgotten about the tragedy now.

"The nation has so many other things to deal with. Nobody is studying that again."

Newsday asked if he would welcome a case of corporate manslaughter, as the report had urged, if the Director of Public Prosecutions were minded to prosecute.

Boodram said, "Well, corporate manslaughter as far as I got to understand in Trinidad, does not really mean much. It's just a fine, I think about $15,000 or $20,000, or something like that, and that is that.

"So I think this OSH prosecution here is something very important. I hope we could get some justice out of it."

Newsday asked how he hand his family had been coping since the tragedy in 2022.

Boodram said, "Well, it is tough. It is tough.

"Yes, I have my wife and she is working. She is a nurse at San Fernando General Hospital. But after meeting the bills, that is it.

"My kids and family are not accustomed to living like this.

"I built myself, financially free for us. But now the kids and them are at a serious disposition compared to how they were."

Newsday asked if he was working.

He replied, "No. I am not doing anything right now. Mentally, right now, I don't have the capacity to get into that kind of thing."

Newsday asked his final thoughts. "I think it is a real injustice done to the families and myself. After two and a half years now, a state-owned company doesn't even care to try to assist. A $15 million inquiry said they were grossly negligent but they are not standing responsibility."

Boodram said his attorneys "are working on taking Paria and LMCS to court."