In the cover letter sent to President Christine Kangaloo along with the report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Paria Diving Tragedy, chairman Jerome Lynch, KC, said he could not forget the words of 11-year-old Aliyah Henry.
Aliyah’s father, Yusuf Henry, was one of the four LMCS divers killed in that horrible accident. She recounted how she “prayed and prayed” for her father and his colleagues to be safe and went to the scene of the accident at Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd in Pointe-a-Pierre “praying for a miracle” that did not happen.
Those words should be a strong enough reminder that the heartbreaking human dimensions of that accident extend way beyond the deaths of those men and include the nightmare still being lived by the lone survivor, Christopher Boodram, and the children, widows and loved ones the divers left behind.
The report of the CoE, made public just a few days ago, confirms the extent of the negligence, insensitivity and ignorance that shrouded the incident from the start.
Predictably, there have been cries for the toughest of penalties, including the sacking of the entire Paria board, in addition to the actions already recommended in the report.
Some of the tumult, unfortunately, will not hasten the delivery of justice and will only serve to turn this tragedy, which has riveted the nation for close to two years, into a political football.
It is up to Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard to determine what will be the next steps, given the findings of the CoE “that there are sufficient grounds to conclude that Paria’s negligence could be characterised as gross negligence and consequently criminal.”
That action will focus on Paria, as well as officials of the state-owned energy company and LMCS identified in the report.
But it is time to spare much more than a thought and a prayer for the families of the divers who have not yet had the opportunity to recover from the deep pain and loss inflicted on them on February 25, 2022.
The depths of their bereavement are difficult enough to fathom but there is the added shocking twist of the “insensitive and uncivilised” way they were treated by officials of Paria, as documented in the CoE report.
It states: “The failure to keep them informed, especially in the first 12 - 24 hours was shocking as was their failure to look after them. They should have been provided with basic shelter, toilet facilities and water and food ought to have been provided by Paria to comfortably accommodate them.”
There is a recommendation that “real consideration needs to be given to assisting the families in the immediate aftermath of the incident to help them with the financial burden that they have been catapulted into.”
Almost two years later, with very little done to help these families heal, especially by Paria, this should become an urgent priority that should extend well beyond the financial compensation being sought by attorney Prakash Ramadhar on behalf of the families.
For them, justice will have to take various tangible forms, in addition to social and psychological support that is essential for them to heal and achieve closure, which has been elusive because of the very public way this tragedy has been handled.
These families have suffered long enough.