Ramadhar calls on Paria, LMCS to settle with divers' families

2026-01-25 - 21:09

ATTORNEY Prakash Ramadhar has renewed his appeal for Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd and LMCS Ltd to compensate the families of the four divers who died in an underwater pipeline in Pointe-a-Pierre in February, 2022. He also threatened legal action if the companies did not accede to his call. Ramadhar was speaking at a news conference in Curepe on January 24. He was accompanied by three of his associates – Saira Lakhan, Ved Trebouhansingh and Shane Sinanan. The briefing came two days after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar presented a $1 million ex-gratia payment to Christopher Boodram, the lone survivor of the Paria diving tragedy, at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. She also presented the families of two other divers, Rishi Nagessar and Fyzal Kurban, with a $1 million ex-gratia payment. Boodram, Kazim Ali Jr, Yusuf Henry, Rishi Nagassar and Fyzal Kurban were performing maintenance on a 30-inch underwater pipeline at Berth 6, Pointe-a-Pierre, on February 25, 2022, when they were suddenly sucked into the line by a powerful differential pressure event, known as Delta P. The report of the Commission of Enquiry into the tragedy, which was laid in the House of Representatives on January 19, 2024, said the Director of Public Prosecutions should consider charging the Paria Trading Company with corporate manslaughter. It said there was also evidence to prosecute Paria manager Colin Piper and LMCS head Kazim Ali Snr (whose son died in the tragedy) and their firms for offences under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. During the news conference, Ramadhar thanked the Government for finally compensating the victims’ families but said Paria Trading Co Ltd and LMCS Ltd also must compensate them.“The Government has done its part, and it is now up to the board and directors of LMCS and Paria to work among themselves and their insurance companies to either settle this matter, or we will have no choice but to file an action – something I am hesitant to do, but we are prepared to. [caption id="attachment_1191340" align="alignnone" width="768"] The five divers employed by LMCS hired by Paria to do maintenance work on a 36-inch pipeline in one of the last photos taken at Pointe-a-Pierre in February 2022. From left are, Christopher Boodram, who survived, Kazim Ali, Yusuf Henry, Rishi Nagassar and Fyzal Kurban. -[/caption] “And we really do hope that within this period, some level of fairness does come about and the families are better settled.”” Ramadhar said there was no issue in his mind as to the liability of both Paria and LMCS in the incident.“We have written several pre-action protocol letters to both LMCS and Paria, and their lawyers over the years have indicated that there is no liability even after the commission of enquiry had sat and ruled.”” He said he does not wish to engage in a lengthy court battle.“I have always taken the position, together with the families that I represent, that we did not wish to embark on a long travail through the court process for several reasons, one of which is the length of time for final completion on a matter like this. “If you go to court and you get a judgment before a High Court, it can be appealed to the Court of Appeal and ultimately to the Privy Council, and that could take many years.”” Ramadhar said the victims’ families also would have to “relive the awfulness of that day.” He said his team had put out a figure of $5 million in compensation for each family. “The reason being that when one looks at the cost of the commission of enquiry, where lawyers made $7 and $8 million...It takes 100 years for a person earning $7,000 a month to earn $7 million, just to put it into context.”” He believes the $1 million in compensation was still too little for the victims’ families.“It may sound like a lot of money, but in these times, it is truly not.”” Ramadhar said the Kurban’s daughter is studying at a university in Canada and has incurred a huge debt since her father died. “Since the passing of her father, her brothers who are here cannot get work because they are now associated with the disaster in a very small community. So basically, the family had been shut down. “They have incurred debts of over $700,000 to keep their sister at university. So most of that money will have to go to repaying loans and the remainder towards the completion of her degree.” Also present at the news conference was Yusuf Henry’s daughter, Aliyah, and her mother, Tia Gopaul. Ramadhar said no cheque from the government was made payable to Aliyah.“There is a good reason for it. Since the disaster of that day, families had reached out to me, and we had reached out to members of Yusuf Henry’s family because Tia is the mother of Aliyah, but there are other children with other mothers. So there is an outstanding issue with respect to Yusuf Henry and his children.””He recalled that Persad-Bissessar had said that she wanted everything done legally. “The legal framework meaning that we had to get letters of administration for the Kurbans to show who are the beneficiaries who are entitled and that she was the legal representative to accept the cheque on behalf of the family. “We could not have done that for the others who are not with us. We did it already for Tia and Aliyah, but the other members of the family have not come forward.”” He said his team is still willing to help them. In the meantime, Ramadhar said his team will again write to Paria and LMCS “with a hope that they will settle this matter in totality and not leave the burden entirely up to the government.” “Even though it is a state enterprise and LMCS is not, Paria is, and together with the resources that are available, this is literally a drop in the bucket of the resources available to Paria.” Ramadhar claimed Paria has assets of over US$1 billion.