OWTU pickets Paria manager’s home

RADHICA DE SILVA

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Incensed that Paria Fuel Trading top-level managers were still on the job following the deaths of four divers, a contingent from the Oilfield Workers Trade Union picketed the home of Paria’s Terminal Manager Collin Piper in Gulf View on Tuesday night.

Piper is one of the key players who made decisions after the four divers disappeared inside the 30-inch diameter pipeline on Friday afternoon.

Around 8 pm, the OWTU contingent comprising of about a dozen workers arrived at Piper’s home at Penny Avenue and began chanting, “Collin Piper Must Go.”

They lit candles and carried placards. They stayed in front of his home for half an hour before leaving.

Jackman said they were calling on Piper, Paria’s general manager Mushtaq Mohammed, chairman Newman George and maintenance manager Michael Lee to be removed from their posts so they will not influence any ongoing investigation.

On Sunday, Piper announced publicly in a press conference that the pipeline will be flushed to retrieve the bodies, even though there was no concrete evidence to suggest the men were dead.

Meanwhile, the president of the First Wave Movement Umar Abdullah was also mobilizing to picket in front of Mohammed’s home.

Hours before the picketing started, Vanessa Kussie went to Carli Bay where she prayed for the body of her husband to be retrieved. Kussie was distraught when contacted yesterday and said her husband’s body was still missing. The couple has a two-year-old son.

The families of the dead men say they have received no counselling or support from the company even though an announcement was made that counselling was available.