radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
The four divers who died tragically inside a pipeline at Paria’s Berth No 6 on February 25 were insured and sources say the contractor LMCS has started reaching out to families offering compensation to the deceased families. However, the company is denying this.
A source said the insured amount has not yet been disclosed and was raised by LMCS even as the police and the OSH Agency continue investigations to determine what caused the incident.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity yesterday, the source confirmed that LMCS’s owner Kazim Ali Snr met with families and offered insurance compensation.
“LMCS is saying it has insurance and wants to pay now before any matter goes to court. We have been advised there is a danger to that because if there is a settlement and the liability of LMCS is more than the insurance, and if the families sign the insurance as a full and final settlement, then they will get not a cent more,” the source said.
The families are being advised not to accept the settlement as full and final payment.
Guardian Media reached out to LMCS owner Kazim Ali Snr but he did not answer his phone. However, a company spokesman who was subsequently contacted denied that LMCS was trying to “buy out” the families by offering a settlement.
“Kazim met with the families and reassured them that he had Workmen’s Compensation insurance in place for all the divers. He did not offer it as a buyout, he just reassured them it was Workmen’s Compensation in place for the divers,” the official revealed.
Asked whether this compensation had anything to do with any settlement to prevent litigation, he responded, “No No No.”
He added, “If there is an accident, they are entitled to Workmen’s Compensation by law. It is Workmen’s Compensation insurance. It was never a buyout, all he did was meet and assured them the divers are covered by Workmen’s Compensation.”
However, when Guardian Media reached out to Vanessa Kussie, the wife of diver Rishi Nagassar, she said she did not know whether her husband had insurance.
The Workmen’s Compensation Act provides for the payment of compensation to workers for injuries suffered in the course of their employment.
Contacted yesterday, Prakash Ramdhar, one of the attorneys representing the interest of some of the divers, said: “I don’t know whether they were insured, I expect they should have been. But in any event, when we file an action in the High Court, if they have insurance, the company will have been indemnified by their insurance. If they didn’t, that is a matter that is entirely on them.”
He added, “As a matter of law, Workmen’s Compensation would be required to be provided. However, this matter in terms of damages may far exceed the moderate coverage that Workmen’s Compensation would normally have provided. Private insurance will have a limit, we don’t know what that limit is. At this point, we don’t know the extent of damages which will be substantially more than Workmen’s Compensation.”
The four divers died while doing maintenance works inside a 30-inch diameter seabed pipeline on February 25.
