Joint efforts continue to locate four of five divers employed by LMCS Limited who were involved in an incident on Friday night while working on a 30-inch pipeline located at no. 36 Sealine riser on Berth no. 6 at the Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited (Paria). The 400m pipeline is on the seabed in 60 feet of water off Pointe-a-Pierre.
At around 2:30pm on Friday 25th February, the LMCS divers while in LMCS’ hyperbaric chamber (or diving bell) were conducting underwater maintenance on the said pipeline when the onshore monitoring team, was alerted to an issue. According to Christopher Boodram, the crew member who managed to make his way back up the pipeline and was pulled out, the divers fell into the pipeline from LMCS’ hyperbaric chamber. Mr. Boodram is currently receiving treatment.
Immediately upon learning of the incident, Paria initiated its Incident Management Team (IMT) and contacted the Coast Guard, other authorities, and expert divers to begin rescue efforts. The remaining four divers have been identified as: Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry and Kazim Ali Jr.
Given the confined space and the uncertainty of the conditions in the pipeline, the joint team comprising LMCS, Paria and other partners are exploring all possible solutions to locate the remaining four divers.
“We have been working closely with Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd.(Paria) from the beginning of the incident to reach our divers. The Paria team has been fully supportive throughout this process and continue to provide all their resources to support our efforts, including people, capability and equipment.” said Mr. Kazim Ali, Managing Director of LMCS Limited.
“In collaboration with the state emergency response services including the Coast Guard and Trinidad & Tobago Fire Services as well as the Paria Incident Management Team (IMT) and various subject matter experts, we are in the final stages of formulating the next attempt.” said Paria’s Chairman Mr. Newman George.
Throughout this process all options have been explored with the requisite experts and authorities and Paria remains committed to supporting the efforts.