Young: No politics in payments — $5m for Paria divers' families

Prime Minister Stuart Young said government will pay $1 million to the lone survivor and $1 million each to the families of the four men who died in the Paria tragedy in February 2022. He said an exact date for the $5 million payout could not be given at this time.

On February 25, 2022, Land and Marine Construction Services (LMCS) divers Kazim Ali Jnr, Rishi Nagassar, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram were repairing a 30-inch pipeline at Paria’s Pointe-a-Pierre facility when they were sucked into it.

Only Boodram managed to escape. LMCS was contracted by Paria to repair the pipeline.

Speaking at the post-Cabinet media briefing at Whitehall on April 3, Young said the delay in payments to the families was because the insurers for LMCS and Paria could not agree which company was liable.

Young reminded that then prime minister Dr Keith Rowley, former AG Reginald Armour and himself met with the families in March 2024. He said after this, the government engaged with Paria and LMCS to see how the matter could be settled with the families.

He said he had been following up on the issue “at least once weekly” with the Paria board members and the lawyers involved for Paria and LMCS and was fed up with the delays. He said he kept pushing for the issue to be settled, knowing that the process was frustrating the families.

“I am told that the insurers of Paria and LMCS are the ones quarrelling and arguing about liability and who is at fault, as there is not yet a definitive determination of who and which company is at fault. There is more than one who is at fault.”

Young said he had personally been arguing with the lawyers about a solution, saying they should come up with something for the families and then let the companies fight it out afterwards.

“I’ve had enough. I’ve been keeping Cabinet updated on the frustrating conversations I’d been having and today they confirmed what I asked them last week, collectively and unanimously.

“The government is going to make an ex-gratia payment, without any admission of liability, but recognising the difficulty, trauma and tragic circumstances of these divers, of $1 million to each of the families of the deceased divers and Mr Boodram. There is no financial compensation that can compensate for the loss of lives in those circumstances.

“I had been asking for this to be done even before we came into 2025. I went to Cabinet and said I was no longer prepared to have these insurers frustrate the process. Let us take a decision, I know the law, it’s ex gratia and then that could go into calculations of whatever damages have to come out if they have to continue in court. It is done, definitively, with the full support of Cabinet.”

He said while the government has remained engaged, it could not force the lawyers and the insurers to assist the families financially. He said the government will reach out to the families and ask to who the money should be made payable, and it would be up to them to involve their lawyers.

Asked whether he thought the announcement would be regarded as political due to its timing, Young said he could not change people’s perception.

“I could understand the cynicism of people who hold that view. I can’t avoid the timing and the conversations the people and the population are entitled to have. Everyone is entitled to their own view. It is not for the election, but even me saying that will bring no solace or change nobody’s mind on it.

“Do I expect this to become political? Of course I do. But I know at the end of the day I am satisfied the government would have done what it can, albeit a bit late, but not for want of us trying.”

Young said the families had not been informed of the decision prior to informing the media as the Cabinet meeting had ended minutes before the briefing. He defended his decision to do so.

“I just came out of the meeting and wanted to inform the public. You could say, it should have happened that way, but this is the way it has happened. There was no way, having left the Cabinet to come directly to the post-Cabinet, they could have been informed. These are the facts, this is what has happened.”

Asked how the figure of $1 million was arrived at, Young said he asked the lawyers involved whether there was the potential of the award of less than $1 million to anyone. He also said the families law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty were awarded $1 million, which he said was justification.

“There was also argument about whether it should be less, but I persuaded my Cabinet colleagues, without much resistance, to go with the million dollars.

“We think this is the humanitarian thing to be done. I wish it could have been done earlier and that the companies and the insurers would have taken the legal route and settled it but that hasn’t been done.”

He said for those who would say the amount is not enough, that the families would still go through their legal processes, as the government was not stopping them from pursuing legal action against LMCS and Paria.

The announcement comes a year after Rowley met with the families of the divers. He told the families Paria’s insurers are prepared to work closely with LMCS to arrive at a joint proposal for a settlement “without prejudice.”

Rowley requested that the board of Paria do all that it can do to address these issues as quickly and as reasonably as possible, as it was not the government’s wish that the families’ anguish should be prolonged by a dispute over liability and compensation.