RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Attorneys representing the families of three of the five divers who were involved in last week’s tragedy off Pointe-a-Pierre say they have the evidence to pursue criminal and civil litigation against Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited.
Its chairman, Newman George, has also been given seven days to respond to a letter demanding that he hand over all material and evidence about the divers’ untimely deaths.
Speaking at a media conference yesterday, lead attorney Prakash Ramadhar said all company officials should be placed on a leave of absence or suspended pending the outcome of the investigations launched into the tragic diving accident.
“We have looked at the evidence and at the end of the day, Paria will be ultimately liable. If there is any effort to distort investigations, we will pursue civil and criminal action,” Ramadhar said.
Ramadhar is representing the families of Yusuf Henry and Fyzul Kurban, who died in the incident, and lone survivor Christopher Boodram.
He noted that the window of opportunity to save the men was cut short when a named company official decided not to send other divers in to save the men.
“The highest urgency was necessary. We also want to know what authority the Coast Guard had to prevent the loss of lives,” Ramadhar said.
He added, “We have evidence as to who gave the instruction. We want to know the logic behind that. Imagine you play God without the science. What if there was an air pocket? We have seen many natural disasters that people are located and saved. That decision to say the men were dead was to be made by a medical practitioner.”
The attorney also said, “This is not a bashing on the Minister of Energy, whom we have been in communication with, but we are saying that the response time should have been minutes not hours. We are here to move to establish liability, this is not a vengeful statement.”
Ramadhar said the letter issued to George also demands that he preserves all evidence surrounding the tragic February 25 incident, when the men were sucked into the 30-inch oil pipeline.
“Whilst the investigation is ongoing, we ask that any and/or all relevant company officials be placed on a leave of absence or suspended pending the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
A part of the letter read: “In seeking our client’s interest at this stage, and given that some of the guilty parties in this calamity continue to work at PFCL and have unfettered access to material that may form the corpus of evidence against them and given the chronology of events relayed to us thus far by our clients, we, on behalf of the families, demand that you take all necessary steps to immediately preserve and protect any and all records inclusive of audio, visual and digital records, documentation, reports, logs, notations, contemporaneous records and statements relating to the incident which occurred.”
Ramadhar said Paria Fuel Trading has to be held accountable and responsible.
“Where there is a rampant example for disregard to human life, the law says you are liable not only civilly but criminally. If it has to occur again, there must be a new protocol moving forward,” he added.
He also explained, “We have to be realistic that evidence can be distorted. The family of these deceased people are affected. We will bring this matter before a court of law. This country and the Judiciary will make an assessment and judgement.”
Ramadhar said while he appreciates that an investigating committee was set up by Energy Minister Stuart Young, the fact that the executives were still on the job was a matter of concern.
“There is a standard in all civilised countries that wherever possible liability exists, the people who are in positions of influence should be removed. For there to be transparency, all persons who have an interest to protect should not have a position of authority.” Ramadhar expressed gratitude to the mainstream media, social media activist Phillip Alexander and the OWTU for exposing what happened to the divers. He lamented that Paria has also not reached out to families to assist with basic needs.
