The attorney for Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited says there is no way the company could truly compensate the families of the four victims in the Paria diving tragedy.
In delivering his closing statement to the Commission of Enquiry set up to investigate the accident, Senior Counsel Gilbert Peterson said:
“There is no truly compensatory measure that could be done to these families, the loss of their loved ones is irreplaceable.”
The attorney said that Paria recognised the need for the Commission—to ensure that an event like the Paria tragedy, which occurred on February 25, 2022, claiming the lives of four LMCS divers, Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry and Kazim Ali Junior, does not reoccur.
“Paria and Heritage appreciate that to assist in the bringing closure of these persons in an effort to avoid the recurrence of this event on the 25th that they fully participated, and they did not hold back with the greatest of respect in any way in assisting this commission.”
He says Paria made certain that every relevant person capable of assisting the Commission was available.
In summing up the efforts of the company after the accident, Peterson described them as “entirely reasonable.”
“The execution of the works up to and including the 25 February 2022, and the rescue and recovery efforts at the end of the day taken by Paria were entirely reasonable, in light of the range of options that were open to it,” he asserted.
He said there was no basis for Paria to bear any liability for selecting LMCS as a contractor.
“The fact that Paria did not possess the capabilities to execute such works and also the fact that it took reasonable steps to satisfy itself that the independent contractor it ultimately hired for the works...was a competent and well-established specialist contractor operating in the oil and gas sector…” Peterson said.
He said following a competitive tendering process and information gained from LMCS, they were assessed as competent to carry out works on the sealine.
“Paria, in the course of assessing bids, checked LMCS’s references by calling persons/entities/names to verify the materials and services and references that were successfully provided by LMCS to Paria.”
Based on prior work done by LMCS for Petrotrin, the company was deemed fit due to their consistent ratings.
“The Petrotrin database disclosed that during the period 2015-2018, LMCS carried out 124 jobs for Petrotrin and obtained a rating of acceptable for each job with the only other available rating as unacceptable,” he explained.
Peterson stated that LMCS had done work similar to what was done on February 2022 only two years before.
“In the year 2020, LMCS successfully completed subsea maintenance works at Berth Number 5 of almost identical nature to those in respect of which Paria had invited them to tender,” he noted. “This could be supported also from the statement of Mr. Kazim Ali Snr...where Mr. Ali detailed in that statement that the job was so similar that inflatable plugs were also used and I think he used the phrase ‘same techniques’.”
He added that LMCS’s performance on that job was excellent.
The attorney said Paria based their selection of LMCS for the work on Berth 6, due to their wealth of knowledge and certifications in the field.
“All that Paria was required to do was take reasonable steps to satisfy itself that the independent contractor retained by it (Paria) to carry out the works had the requisite level of competence,” Peterson emphasised.
He added: “Applying this legal standard, it could hardly be suggested that Paria was negligent in the selection of LMCS as a contractor given LMCS’s knowledge, extensive experience, STOW certification and track record in executing works of a similar nature.”
