radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
As she marked one month since the death of four divers in a mishap at Paria Fuel Trading, widow Vanessa Kussie yesterday revealed that her two-year-old son, Nashhik, still waits every day for his father to come home and runs outside every time a car pulls up thinking it is his father.
Kussie said on one occasion, she found the child speaking to someone, even though no one was there. When she inquired who it was, he said it was his father.
She said that strange occurrence was at around 10.20 am on February 28, the morning after Paria executives had declared her husband and three other divers dead.
Kussie said her older son Dillon told her something strange was going on with Nashhik. Peeping through a crack in the door, she heard the toddler saying: “Why are you not coming home, I want you home. Come home now daddy, I need you home. Come and give me a hug.”
She said since the tragedy Nashhik has been in tears and he still cannot understand that his father is gone.
“I too feel as if I am in a dream,” she admitted.
Nagassar and three other divers—Kazim Ali Junior, Fyzal Kurban and Yusuf Henry—died after they were sucked into a 30-inch diameter pipeline during underwater maintenance on No 36 sealine at Paria’s No 6 Berth. Only one diver, Christopher Boodram, survived.
At a candlelight vigil in Pointe-a-Pierre on Friday night, Oilfield Workers Trade Union Branch president Christopher Jackman spoke about the trauma the children of the dead divers are experiencing.
“These children still are yet to fathom and understand what is taking place,” he said.
Jackman lamented that the divers’ deaths had taken a political twist and added: “To this day, we have not heard anything from Paria about addressing their concerns that arose out of their loved ones. These families have no idea where their next income is coming from. Instead of bringing the divers justice, the argument is about this political party against another.”
