NEWMAN GEORGE, chairman of Paria Fuel Trading Company, opted not to comment on the tragic deaths of four divers last weekend at a Paria pipeline at Pointe-A-Pierre, when contacted by Newsday on Sunday. "I'm sorry about that but I have no comment."

The tragedy has evoked national grief, amid lament that more efforts were not made to rescue the men, after one was successfully saved.

The divers who worked for LMCS, a private contractor, were doing underwater maintenance to pipeline on Berth Six off Pointe-a-Pierre on February 25

Five men – Christopher Boodram, Kazim Ali, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Rishi Nagassar – were sucked into a 30-inch oil pipeline.

Kurban's son, Michael Kurban, rescued Boodram, but was told it was too risky for him to return for the others. All bodies have been recovered, with Ali's funeral held on Saturday.

Newsday asked George if his silence had made him appear unsympathetic in this situation.

He replied, "An investigation has been launched. I think it would be inappropriate for me to make any comment at this stage."

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Stuart Young is setting up a government committee to probe the tragedy, but a former minister has urged it be done by a parliamentary committee.

Young told last Thursday's post-Cabinet briefing his committee would act under his ministry's authority as likely derived under the Petroleum Act and production-sharing contracts. It has up to 45 days to report, he said. The five members are attorney Shiv Sharma (chairman), engineer Eugene Tiah, subsea specialist Gregory Wilson, plus two nominees from energy firms bpTT and Shell.

Young said the committee was not limited to its 11 terms of reference but had an "open sheet."

However the UNC has called on bpTT and Shell not to participate in this committee, alleging a conflict of interest in both firms having an ongoing relationship with the ministry and in Paria's CEO Mushtaq Mohammed having once been a manager at BP. Newsday sought bpTT's response to the UNC's complaint.

bpTT corporate communications manager Giselle Thompson told Newsday on Sunday, "We will prepare a formal response and forward to you but note this requires approvals from outside of country and we may not be able to get it to you today." Newsday's similar text query to Shell's communication officer Candice Clarke-Salloum got no reply up to press time.

UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar objected to Tiah being on the committee but Young replied in a Facebook post on Sunday, saying Tiah was well-respected in the industry for his "experience, expertise and integrity" and was not the minister's nominee but that of the Energy Chamber. Alleging desperate behaviour by Persad-Bissessar, Young said, "She has sought to attack an innocent, independent and professional individual, who volunteered to give public service."

PROBE BY PARLIAMENT?

Meanwhile, former energy minister Kevin Ramnarine urged that a parliamentary committee also probe the tragedy, in a Facebook comment on Saturday.

On Sunday, he told Newsday that a paralle