RADHICA DE SILVA
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Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for the dismissal of the board of Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited, pending investigations into the tragic deaths of four divers who were trapped inside a 30-inch diameter pipeline over the weekend.
The petition was started by attorney Vanessa Soobrattie and got almost 25,000 signatures within 24 hours.
In an interview with Guardian Media, Soobrattie said the influx of signatures demonstrated the outrage that people were feeling for the divers—Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagessar, Yusuff Henry and Kazim Ali Jr—who died after they got sucked into the pipeline on February 25.
The men were contract workers at LMCS Limited, which provides project management, engineering design, procurement, marine construction and land construction services (inclusive of diving-related underwater services and marine logistics support).
LCMS was contracted by Paria Fuel Trading Limited.
“I started the petition on Instagram. As an attorney, when I realised that if an investigation was going to be done, it seemed logical to have the board removed. The possibility exists that policies and evidence could be tampered with. To me, in the interest of a fair investigation, the proper step would have been for the board to step down, resign or be removed,” Soobrattie said.
She added, “There is a clear lack of HSE policies. Protocols were breached and in the absence of an independent investigation, we want to see fairness for the families.”
Soobrattie said she has not yet reached out to the family but had no hesitation in helping them.
“I want to say I am truly saddened. The population needs to understand what happened. We knew where these divers were, we had volunteers willing to go in and get them out at no liability to Paria and for whatever reason, they were blocked. That is why people are outraged,” she added.
The divers were conducting maintenance works on a 30-inch diametre seabed crude oil pipeline at Berth No 6, Pointe-a-Pierre, when they were sucked into the pipeline. Only one of them, Christopher Boodram, was saved.
Recovery efforts are now underway to find Nagessar’s body.
Autopsies on the bodies of Kurban, Ali Jr and Henry will be done pending the results of COVID-19 tests.
A five-member independent team has been appointed by Energy Minister Stuart Young to probe the tragedy.
