(Trinidad Express) A second morning has dawned, and the four underwater welders sucked into a crude oil pipeline in the waters off Pointe a Pierre, are yet to be recovered.
As of 8a.m today, relatives keeping vigil at the gates to the Paria Fuel Trading Company, told the Express they had no new information, and no official from the company was with them to provide any.
During the night, a large water pump was rented and trucked into the compound, to be taken to to sea and used to flush the pipeline before an attempt was made to get the men.
Instead, relatives say they were told the cable snapped while the crane was lifting the pump at the site, stalling the rescue effort.
“They are still inside the pipe” a relative said.
The men are somewhere inside a 36-inch diameter pipeline that is more than a kilometre long.
Relatives of the missing men provided this image which they say show a truck taking a pump into Paria’s compound, to be used on the rescue effort.
The families told the Express that a WhatsApp group chat was formed that involved Energy Minister Stuart Young, and senior company officials in order to keep relatives updated.
However, they were not being given any information, a relative told the Express this morning.
“A woman (involved in communicating with the families) has been hoggish and disrespectful to us. She tells she will put out something at 8.30p.m and we can read it then” a relative said.
The parents, siblings, children and wives of the men spent the night in a shed outside Paria’s headquarters, kept company by members of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union.
“It is the union giving us support. They brought us food, toilets, tables…Where is Paria?” a relative said.
A protest over the treatment being meted out to the families, and the response from Paria to the tragedy, is being planned for this morning.
Paria’s last update on the progress of the recovery effort, was at 3p.m. Saturday.
While the country awaits confirmation of the inevitable, Energy Minister Stuart Young has gone to the Pointe a Pierre facilities of the Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited, to be briefed on the horror involving a team of underwater welders.
In a social media post, Young, who returned from a trip abroad on Friday night, said he was meeting with the families of the four divers sucked into a 36-inch crude oil pipeline, and who have not been seen since Friday afternoon.
The missing men have been identified as Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry, and Kazim Ali Jr.
The survivor was named as Christopher Boodram.
The men only had scuba tanks when they were pulled into the undersea pipeline in the Gulf of Paria, after 3p.m Friday.
The only way the men could still be alive is if they encountered a pocket of breathable air.
The air in the pipeline is toxic.
A scuba diver can stay underwater for about an hour before running out of air.
It has been almost 24 hours since the men were pulled into the pipe.
Paria has issued only one statement on the incident, at 9.04p.m. Friday.
Since then the company has not updated citizens on the search and rescue operation.
The company is being asked by the relatives of the missing men to explain in detail the standard operating procedures (SOP) adopted for the project.
The company is also being asked to explain how a vacuum could have been created in the pipeline if all the machinery was supposed to be shut down and only restarted after the job was completed and certified.
People on the scene of the incident say the men were working on a seapipe at Berth 6, off Paria’s west coast facility, when they were sucked into the pipeline.
Within an hour, a diver rescue team, involving the relatives of some of the men, went into the water in search of the men.
One, Christopher Boodram, was found about 50 feet into the pipe, and was pulled out alive.
Boodram, who suffered multiple bruises and other injuries, is now being treated in a hyperbaric chamber of a hospital.
A borescope, a camera used to access tight spaces, has since been inserted into the pipeline.
The camera only spotted scuba tanks, the Express was told.
The diameter of an average water barrel is 23 inches. The pipeline is 36 inches in diameter.
The missing men and the survivor are employed with LMCS Limited, a San Fernando based company that provides project management, engineering design, procurement and construction services, inclusive of diving-related underwater services and marine logistics support.
The company is owned by Kazim Ali.
His son, Kazim Ali Jr, is among the missing.
They could have been saved
At the site, there is rage mixed with heartbreak.
Relatives say not enough was done by Paria to save the men, and it was left up to their relatives to mount a rescue operation that saved one.
The Express was told that the maintenance job was almost completed shortly after 3p.m. Friday when the unthinkable happened.
When the distress call went out, the son of the dive team leader Fyzal Kurban, 56, heard it on the radio. The son, who is also a diver, was out at sea on a vessel when he heard.
He came to the scene to be told that his father and the others had not surfaced for half an hour. He began mobilising relatives and friend (all underwater divers) to come to the site, the Express was told.
When they dived to the underwater pipeline, they heard pounding, from inside, and went 50 feet, as far as his dive umbilical could take him, the Express was told.
It was there he encountered one of the men, covered in oil. The survivor could not be immediately pulled to the surface, so a second driver was summoned to help.
Relatives are claiming that even then, other members of the missing dive team were alive, since rescuers were hearing pounding “moans and gasps” from within the pipeline, which is about 1,200 feet long and extends from the berth out at sea, to the shore.
However, the rescue divers say they were prevented from going back into the pipeline because it would be in breach of health and safety protocols.
“They were willing to do it” a relative told the Express.
In the meantime, family members have been told that an operation is underway to pump the pipeline dry before going in search of the missing men.
The Express was told that there was no attempt by Coast Guard divers to go into the pipeline.
Family members have also dismissed the “briefing” their received from Minister Young on Saturday afternoon, in which he told that that every that could be done, was being done, to get the trapped four out of the pipeline.
What needed to be done, relatives say, was to give permission to willing and experienced divers to go in search of the men.
At 3p.m. Paria issued only its second update on the tragedy.
The company stated: Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited (Paria) continues the operation with respect to the four missing LMCS Limited contractors following an incident yesterday.
The contractors went missing while conducting an underwater maintenance exercise at #36 Sealine riser on Berth #6 at Paria, Pointe-a-Pierre on Friday 25th February 2022.
LMCS Limited is a service company contracted by Paria with over 30 years of experience in engineering design, procurement, marine construction, and land construction services, inclusive of diving-related underwater services and marine logistics support. The divers who were engaged in this operation are all certified and have a total of over 30 years’ experience among them.
The immediate response to the incident included the mobilization of experienced rescue teams to work with Paria in their efforts to search for the missing men whilst ensuring the safety of the personnel present.
Operational scenarios were risk assessed and implemented and included the use of Remotely Operated Vehicles (RoVs) and other technology. The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and other subject matter experts were in support of this operation. All stakeholders continue to work assiduously in this support of this activity.
Paria has also engaged the counselling service provider PEAPSL to be on standby to support of families and employees.
Paria will work with LMCS Limited to address this situation.