‘I wish I had died in that pipe’On the eve of the arrival in T&T of Sir Dennis Morrison who will chair the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the Paria diving tragedy, the lone survivor of that mishap has made an impassioned appeal for the exercise to the scrapped and the money given to the families of the lost divers instead.
Boodram said the Government, as well as officials of Paria and the dive company, LMCS had neglected him.
“Sometimes, I wish I had died in that pipe too,” he said.
Boodram told the Sunday Guardian he is dreading the upcoming CoE for two reasons—he knows that he will have to recount the tragedy that claimed the lives of his four “brothers” but he is also facing a massive financial strain as he is unable to work because of his injuries.
The CoE is the State’s response to the political criticism about the selection of experts to investigate the incident but for Boodram, it’s a waste of money.
“So much money for this pappyshow when I have no money to even buy books for my children for school, when I still wake up 2, 3, 4 o’clock in the morning hearing the voices of the men, calling me to help them?” an emotional Boodram asked.
Boodram is currently being represented pro bono by former attorney general Anand Ramlogan SC but does not expect that free representation to last for the six months it might take for the CoE to be conducted.
He said although 46 days have passed since the tragedy that claimed the lives of his friends and fellow divers—Fyzal Kurban, Kazim Ali Jr, Rishi Nagassar and Yusuf Henry—he still hears them calling for him.
He considers the CoE to be an exercise with expensive experts and senior ranking officials that mean nothing to him because at this point he cannot afford the legal weight needed to participate or refute any allegations made during the process.
“I am a witness, I am a survivor but they’re bringing in an expert diver to say what could have happened or may have happened. I know what happened, I already know,” Boodram said. “But because I don’t have that expert title and cannot afford to bring in my own expert, they not going to take me on,” he said.
On Friday, February 25, Boodram was the rescue diver when his four friends and colleagues from the LMCS Ltd entered the pipeline on Berth Six to replace leaking fixtures. It was a routine operation and the men were in the testing phase when the tragedy occurred.
They were sucked into the pipe, down the tube and into the chamber running parallel to the sea bed. Boodram found an air pocket and dragged himself back out to the vertical tubing. He said his friends were right behind and one who he calls “Fyz” was begging him to stay.
“I tell Fyz, doh worry Fyz, I coming back for you. He asked me again if I coming back and I say, ‘Yeah boy, I coming back’,” Boodram recalled.
As he relived that moment, Boodram became emotional and took a few moments to collect himself.
“I’m sorry, the doctors said this would keep happening. I just forget little things now,” he said.
Psychologists have told him he cannot work in the water again because the trauma is too intense.
But for Boodram, no work means no money and the financial burden of raising three young children rests squarely on the shoulders of his wife.
“She’s a nurse, she facing COVID every day, working shifts, then coming home to help me when I wake up from a nightmare, then dealing with the children. It’s too much,” he said.
Boodram said after all his trauma, injuries and emotional scars, he is feeling forgotten and neglected by the Government, Paria, the State-owned energy company and LMCS.
“I feel like it would have been better to die with them than to live like this,” he said.
He has been getting by supported by his wife and good Samaritans at his church. He also received some financial help from MP Rudy Indarsingh who raised money for him and his family.
“This was a national tragedy. Four men lost their lives and nothing? The company executives carry on like normal, they don’t lose their jobs, not even a suspension, just making their salary and carrying on. The big wigs who coming in for this CoE getting paid and I lost my friends, my uncle and mentor, lost my livelihood and I cannot even afford to fight in this CoE. Whatever they say just goes,” he said.
Boodram confirmed that he was offered help and counselling assistance by Paria but said he was hesitant to accept it after a video of the pipeline was leaked to a social media personality.
He asked: “Who leaked that? And now why would I . . . how could I trust them not to leak my counselling sessions too? I cannot trust them.”
He feels the same about medical help and legal assistance.
“It has to be someone I trust and not someone they hire for me because I cannot trust that they don’t have an agenda,” he said.
“Look the same man who called for the executive to be removed, they now hire him and put him in charge, you hear nothing again about removing anybody,” Boodram said, referring to CoE lead counsel, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.
In early March, Maharaj reportedly called for the executive to step aside until the matter was investigated and even said an interim executive should be put in place. Two days later, on March 10, Government announced that Maharaj was selected to head up the CoE.
On Wednesday Guardian Media asked both the Prime Minister and Young whether the Cabinet had finalised the CoE budget and whether it included legal costs incurred by the victims. Neither man answered.
According to reports, three powerful local law firms were jostling to represent Paria. The legal cost for representation for the CoE ranges from $5 million to $7 million. LMC has retained its own battery of lawyers for the CoE.
Source:
https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/i-wish- ... d316b3a213