KEVON FELMINE
Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Councillor for Couva West/Roystonia Vanessa Kussie, widow of LMCS diver Rishi Nagassar, broke down in tears as United National Congress (UNC) Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar pledged to compensate the families of four divers who tragically lost their lives in a pipeline at Paria Fuel Trading Company in 2022.
"You don't leave four men in a pipe to die," Persad-Bissessar declared passionately during the UNC General Election campaign launch at Naparima College.
She accused the Government of showing no remorse for its actions, highlighting that approximately $50 million was spent on lawyers involved in the Commission of Enquiry into the divers' deaths, yet "not one cent for the families."
"We demand that the Government pay the families of the divers. When we win, that will be one of the first things I will do. You have to make sure that happens on April 28," Persad-Bissessar vowed.
On 25 February 2022, the five LMCS divers—Rishi Nagassar, Christopher Boodram, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry, and Kazim Ali Jr—were working inside a hyperbaric chamber conducting subsea operations on Paria’s Sealine No. 36. Shortly after lunch, a Delta P event occurred, pulling the divers into the pipeline.
Boodram managed to escape by dragging himself and swimming through the oil-filled line. Despite his desperate pleas for responders to rescue his colleagues, no attempt was made, and they perished.
