Chairman of the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the Paria diving tragedy Jerome Lynch hopes the commission’s eventual report would improve local diving safety standards.
After two months of public hearings which probed the planning and oversight of repairs, causation of accident and efficacy of rescue efforts, with lawyers for interested parties seeking to minimise their clients liability, the enquiry came to an end on Friday with the closing submissions of counsel to the enquiry Ramesh Maharaj.
Last February, LMCS divers Fyzal Kurban, Kazim Ali Jr, Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram were sucked into a 30-inch undersea pipeline by a surge in water pressure called a Delta P. Only Boodram escaped alive while his four colleagues died while trapped in the pipeline.
Before Christmas, Boodram testified to the “unbelievable nightmare” of being trapped in the pipeline, and of the colleague’s valiant efforts to “pull and drag” to escape.
“Your eyes burning. Pitch black – you can’t see anything. Your throat burning. Your ears ringing. Your body sore.”
[caption id="attachment_995794" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Chairman of the Commission of Enquiry into the diving tragedy at Paria Fuel Trading Co Jerome Lynch KC. - File photo/ROGER JACOB[/caption]
The CoE heard an audio recording of the victims in the pipeline encouraging each other to stay alive. Boodram said keeping everyone calm was “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Michael Wei, Paria technical and maintenance manager, said rescuers lives should not be risked in unknown pipeline conditions, possibly facing a second Delta P event.
“To send someone into the line without knowing that would be reckless.”
Collin Piper, Paria terminal operations manager, stood by decision not to risk more lives in unofficial rescue efforts, including Michael Kurban wishing to save his father.
“If I was the father in that pipe, would I want somebody to send my son into that pipe after me in a reckless manner where he could perish?
“And every time I ask myself that question, my answer was no. I would not want anybody to be so reckless with my son’s life.
Ali’s mother, Catherine Ali, complained to the CoE on January 9.
“There was no leadership, preparedness or morality in Paria’s decisions that she believed led to the deaths of four LMCS divers who waited excruciatingly in the pipe until they could breathe no more.
“It was wrong to bar a father from saving his son and wrong to bar Michael Kurban from saving his father. All four LMCS men have families and friends who love them.”
Lynch on January 4 hit Paria’s treatment of worried families while the men remained trapped undersea, disclosed in testimony by Nagassar’s wife, Vanessa Kussie.
“Just to reflect for a moment on what she said. She is at Paria attempting to find out what’s going on, and apparently no one’s telling anybody anything.
“They are resorting to have to be stopping cars entering and/or leaving the premises to find out what’s happening. On any view not an acceptable
