After listening to the account of Christopher Boodram’s traumatic escape from a dark and murky pipeline and how his four colleague divers met their horrendous demise, the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) in the LMCS/Paria Diving Tragedy got a first-hand view of the incident sites yesterday. CoE chairman Jerome Lynch, KC, told reporters the visit allowed members and interested parties to get a sense of the conditions that those around the incident faced. “The visit permits us to get a real sense of what everyone was up against: it was not an easy location for people to work. Safety is clearly a matter of considerable importance to Paria and those who work here, so it has been useful from that point of view to get a sense of how they approach their work,” Lynch said afterwards.The CoE is probing the February 25 incident in which Boodram, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry, Kazim Ali Jr and Rishi Nagassar got sucked into Sealine 36 Berth 6 at Paria Fuel Trading’s offshore facility in Pointe-a-Pierre. A Delta P incident occurred when the men were inside a hyperbaric chamber removing an inflatable plug. Only Boodram made it out of the pipeline alive.The CoE members on the site visit were Commissioner Gregory Wilson, attorney Ronnie Bissessar, legal support officer Crystal Rahaman and secretary Sarah Sinanan.
LMCS counsel Kamini Persaud-Maraj, former LMCS supervisor Steve Rajkumar, Kenson Operations Service Ltd attorney Chase Pegus, attorneys for the estate of Fyzal Kurban and Ronald Ramoutar, Sharon Jaggernauth and Ved Trebouhansingh, and Thane Peterson, for Paria, joined the visit.
Paria’s OTS Nicholas Brown led the party to the LMSC Adventurer 1 barge, which the company used during its repair to the riser of Sealine 36, where they viewed a piece of pipeline involved in the work. Lynch said it was crucial to the CoE.
The barge, equipped with a crane, remained at Paria following the Occupational Safety and Health Agency issuance of Prohibition Notices to Paria and LMCS concerning subsea maintenance works and diving operations.
The CoE had to seek further permission from Paria and LMCS before four members could board the barge. The visiting party then boarded launch vessels Sting Ray and Reef Shark from the Oil Lube Jetty and travelled to Berth 6, where the divers had worked.
A tattered yellow tarpaulin draped the scaffolding over the Sealine 36, with the horror portion where the men entered submerged below. The pig used to flush Nagassar’s body from the pipeline remained on the scaffolding.
The vessels then viewed Berth 5, which Sealine 36 connects, and where a crew loaded the pig. From there, the party went back to land, where they viewed a conference room that was the original Incident Command Centre to initiate a response to the divers’ disappearance and Terminal Operations Manager Collin Piper’s office on the upper story at the Shipping Building.
The final stop was the outside parking lot where the divers’ families, friends and well-wishers waited for hours to get news of their loved ones.
While the CoE invited the media to cover the visit, Paria significantly limited coverage, prohibiting video and photography equipment, including mobile phones. Only a CoE delegation member got permission from Paria’s management to capture images with her phone.
Following the visit, Lynch said the CoE would be able to report back to all involved and would make photographs available on the website.
“Everyone will have an opportunity to see what we have seen. I anticipate that many will find it very useful. Particularly, we were able to identify a piece of pipe that was removed at Berth 6, so I am very pleased to have had this opportunity to see what needed to be seen,” Lynch said.
Although the CoE has only seen a few witnesses so far, Lynch said the site visit certainly assisted him and others.
He was grateful to Paria for the opportunity to view the sites.
During the first procedural hearing of the CoE last September, Lynch said he wanted to see the habitat the men worked in during the site visit. However, Paria’s attorney Gilbert Peterson said it fell to the seabed while LMCS was attempting to remove it from the Sealine 36 on March 22.
The CoE will resume hearing evidence tomorrow.
