For six hours after four divers found themselves trapped inside a 30-inch diametre seabed pipeline connecting Paria’s Berths 5 and 6 platforms off Pointe-a-Pierre, retired superintendent Vishnu Ramjattan hurriedly tried to contact officials hoping to give guidance on what could have been done to save the men.
But as the hours passed and the rescue mission was aborted, Ramjattan knew that all four men—Fyzal Kurban, Kazim Ali Jr, Rishi Nagessar and Yusuff Henry - would not have survived.
Speaking to Guardian Media yesterday, Ramjattan, a former Petrotrin worker, said it was a mistake not to send in fresh divers to save the four men immediatey after they were sucked into the vortex and the differential pressure on the pipeline became stable. He believes people panicked and Paria Fuel Trading officials bungled the operation by not making the right decisions.
“If you had divers available you could have sent someone to rescue them. Take the chance!” he explained.
With 30 years of experience himself, Ramjattan said he knew the entire western area and understood what could have triggered the tsunami-like vortex which trapped the men inside.
“The divers who met their demise inside a 30-inch diametre pipeline died a horrible death. If you remove this expansion plug and the level of water come up in the pipe, it will go down with a tsunami-type effect, it will pull everybody in line. Nobody could withstand that,” he said.
He also knew what could have been done to prevent the vortex.
“When they remove the expansion plug they should keep the compressor running on 3 to 5 PSI. People with intrinsically safe radios will have to be on the hyperbaric chamber inside and on the barge on the surface while monitoring the level of this water. If that level changes to come up, they have to seal that entry because you will have that differential effect or vortex and everyone would be sucked in,” he explained.
Calling for a proper investigation, Ramjattan said if found guilty, officials should be charged with criminal negligence.
Having worked on the platforms, Ramjattan drew a map, noting that ideally, at least 12 men, inclusive of six divers, should have been part of the operation. He said four divers should have been on the surface, an independent diver should have been onsite and there should have been a compressor attendant, a supervisor, a senior supervisor and a manager of operations.
He also said a radius of 50 feet should have been maintained around the platform, as passing ships could have created a backwash that could have hampered operations.
“The divers complained that the whole structure was shaking. What could shake that is if there is an extreme backwash or any currents,” he said.
Saying he has not slept in four days since the incident, Ramjattan recalled the tragedy which occurred on the high seas on October 17, 1985, when an offshore platform erupted in flames, killing 14 people.
Arising out of that tragedy, safety protocols were hammered out. Ramjattan said these guidelines should have been in place to date to ensure another such tragedy does not occur again.
He also said it was not practical to raise the seabed line and cut it to free the divers.
“That line is buried in water to a length of 120 feet. The line is concrete encased and to cut the line you will need to desilt. That is plenty of work. You need decompression chambers and it takes nearly five days to desilt alone, so cutting that line was out of the question,” he said.
He also noted that although the men were dead within hours of the first rescue, it was unacceptable that the bodies would be left in the pipeline for three days while the grieving relatives awaited information at the car park.—RADHICA DE SILVA
