rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt
Paria Fuel Trading Company terminal operations manager Colin Piper lost his stoic demeanour during an emotional outburst as he defended his actions during the Commission of Enquiry into the Paria/LMCS Diving Tragedy yesterday.
The outburst came after Seamen and Waterfront Trade Union attorney Nyree Alfonzo pressed Piper, who insisted a key component of attempting any rescue was assessing the conditions in the pipeline, if it did not occur to him to send a properly equipped diver into it with a camera.
The visibly frustrated Piper, who had just a few hours prior been calm during testimony, adjusted himself several times in his seat, stared at the ceiling, tapped his fingers audibly on the desk and responded slowly and passionately after taking a deep breath.
“You are asking me to send a man in a pipe, 30-inch diameter. I don’t know the conditions in that pipe, right?”
While CoE chair Jerome Lynch, KC, attempted to interject on Piper’s behalf to point out that his position was already well established through the previous questioning, the operations manager continued to press his point, taking jabs at those sitting in the room.
“This was no simple time. You see, we sit here in this room and we believe that this was something that was not stressful. Right? We believe in this room here that this is not something that we were under...strain. We were under pressure right?” Piper said.
“That is the furthest thing from the truth and we can sit in this room and believe what we want to believe but put yourself in that position on that night. Put yourself in that position on that evening, when you have to make a decision to send a man into a pipeline, a quarter of a mile long. You have no idea where this man is going. You have no idea what this man is going to face. You have no idea.
“You are accountable for this man. You have that accountability. Once you sanction sending that man in that pipe, you are accountable for that man’s life. And if you believe in this room that that was a simple thing because we had four men in that pipe - if you believe that I just sat there and decided I’m just not sending a man in a pipe, you simply do not understand what we went through that night. That is not something I want anybody in this room or anybody, at all, to have to go through and to make a decision.”
While the country has been focused on the trauma experienced by divers’ families and loved ones, Piper gave a glimpse into what he too was battling on the inside after the February 25 incident.
Piper’s voice broke at times as he explained how he rationalised his decision to withhold divers.
“I had four men in that pipe. I had husbands in that pipe. I had fathers in that pipe. I had sons in that pipe. Whose father should I have allowed and sanctioned to go down in that pipe? Who son should I have allowed to go down in that pipe? Whose husband should I have sanctioned to go down in that pipe and perish?” he asked.
“I have run this through my mind on many occasions and I still do. Let me tell you something...I understand Mr Kurban’s courage, because his father was in the pipe. I understand why Mr Kurban would want to go into that pipe and if I was a son, yes. But I’ve also looked at this on the reverse. If I was the father in that pipe, would I want somebody to send my son into that pipe after me in a reckless manner where he could perish?
“And every time I ask myself that question, my answer was no. I would not want anybody to be so reckless with my son’s life.”
Throughout his testimony, Piper maintained he was not prepared to send anyone into the pipeline to execute a rescue until a clearer picture of the conditions inside the pipe could be determined.
