Year of pain and grief

A year after the tragic deaths of four divers trapped in a Paria pipeline; their families gathered to remember them at sea close to the site of their passing

The stories of these wives, children and relatives on the occasion were a catalogue of unceasing anguish and mourning with no apparent end.

The bereaved relatives gathered at the San Fernando Yacht Club on Saturday, but the lone survivor, Christopher Boodram, could not board the boat.

"Every time I see that particular area, I get instant flashback," Mr Boodram said.

His wife described his year after his escape from the deadly pipeline accident as being paralysed by guilt.

It's been a long year for all of them.

In January, the chairman of the commission into the accident, Jerome Lynch, KC, expressed astonishment at the treatment of the families when they arrived at the company's gates only to be stonewalled by clueless security guards.

As critical hours passed, the company's engagement with the families did not improve.

Hours turned into days, and Paria, the state's fuel trading company, could not muster a response that demonstrated any trace of compassion or concern.

Mr Lynch roasted the company's executives during that hearing, but the stony silence of both the company and the State has been an indictment that neither will soon live down.

Mr Lynch's level of insistence on a truthful and accurate account of the event while advocating for the voices of the families shattered by the deaths of their loved ones proved inspiring during the hearings.

It's a sad commentary on the handling of the Paria tragedy that it's been left to Mr Lynch to be a voice of compassion, offering these grieving families their only hope of justice and a fair hearing in all the time since.

Widow Vanessa Kussie spoke this week of losing first her husband of 13 years, then her four-year-old son Naashikk, who can no longer bear a home without his father, and now lives with her sister and brother-in-law.

That there is unresolved trauma haunting the victims over the past year is clear.

Even Paria's representatives, operating under instructions from their company during the hearings, had difficulty explaining their actions during those fateful hours. Some were reduced to tears as they struggled to explain what happened.

The government shouldn't have to be prompted to provide support and counselling to address this trauma.

Based on Paria's testimony, it isn't abundantly clear that the company has taken the lessons from this deadly incident to heart and implemented the kind of sweeping changes in its operations that would limit such accidents in the future.

The report of the Commission of Enquiry should be made public, and the changes at Paria made clear to ensure that potentially fatal procedural errors are better managed.