2022 Caribbean diving disaster

The Caribbean diving disaster was an incident in February 2022 in which a group of five divers working for the Paria Fuel Trading Company were sucked into a pipeline from a hyperbaric chamber. One diver managed to crawl to safety and sought help, but the other four were left to die, with no attempt being made to rescue them due to safety concerns of going back underwater.^[1]

An investigation by the government of Trinidad and Tobago concluded that the deaths of the divers were due to "gross ... and consequently criminal" negligence.^[2] and made recommendations that charges be laid for corporate manslaughter.^[3]

Events

On 25 February 2022, at around 15:00, five divers became trapped in a Paria Fuel Trading Company oil pipeline near Pointe-à-Pierre while making repairs to the pipe.^[4] Unbeknownst to the divers, differential pressure had been created when the pipe was cleared of oil nearly a month earlier. While the divers were removing an inflatable plug, they got sucked into a vortex which pulled them into the oil pipe.^[5] Christopher Boodram was able to escape by crawling down the pipe for around three hours.^[1] Over the weekend, hope remained that air pockets might enable the other divers to survive, though the air quality was likely poor. Therefore, rescue attempts were delayed by an attempt to position a water pump that failed when its lifting cable snapped. Five days later, the men's bodies were recovered - Kazim Ali Jr. (age 36),^[6] Yusuf Henry (31),^[7] and Fyzal Kurban on February 28, and Rishi Nagassar (48)^[8] on March 3. ^[5][9][10]

A GoPro camera was recovered from one of the deceased divers. Audio recordings from the camera show that all the men survived being sucked into the pipe, and in the audio they are heard praying and comforting each other.^[11]

Investigation

Paria admitted they had no rescue plan, citing that they had 'no legal responsibility to rescue the men'.^[12] Further external attempts to save the men were reportedly blocked by Paria with arguments being made that the divers could not be rescued safely.^[12] In November 2023, the Commission of Enquiry found that "Paria's negligence could be characterised as gross negligence and consequently criminal". They recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions "consider charging Paria with what is commonly known as Corporate Manslaughter."^[13] In September 2024, charges were filed against the managers of Paria, and Land and Marine Contracting Services Ltd., a company contracted by Paria to repair the pipeline.^[14]