Prime Minister Stuart Young said government will pay $1 million to the lone survivor and $1 million each to the families of the four men who died in the Paria tragedy in February 2022. He said an exact date for the $5 million payout could not be given at this time.
On February 25, 2022, Land and Marine Construction Services (LMCS) divers Kazim Ali Jnr, Rishi Nagassar, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram were repairing a 30-inch pipeline at Paria’s Pointe-a-Pierre facility when they were sucked into it.
Only Boodram managed to escape. LMCS was contracted by Paria to repair the pipeline.
Speaking at the post-Cabinet media briefing at Whitehall on April 3, Young said the delay in payments to the families was because the insurers for LMCS and Paria could not agree which company was liable.
Young reminded that then prime minister Dr Keith Rowley, former AG Reginald Armour and himself met with the families in March 2024. He said after this, the government engaged with Paria and LMCS to see how the matter could be settled with the families.
[caption id="attachment_1147640" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Lone survivor in the Paria diving tragedy Christopher Boodram. -[/caption]
He said he had been following up on the issue “at least once weekly” with the Paria board members and the lawyers involved for Paria and LMCS and was fed up with the delays. He said he kept pushing for the issue to be settled, knowing that the process was frustrating the families.
“I am told that the insurers of Paria and LMCS are the ones quarrelling and arguing about liability and who is at fault, as there is not yet a definitive determination of who and which company is at fault. There is more than one who is at fault.”
Young said he had personally been arguing with the lawyers about a solution, saying they should come up with something for the families and then let the companies fight it out afterwards.
“I’ve had enough. I’ve been keeping Cabinet updated on the frustrating conversations I’d been having and today they confirmed what I asked them last week, collectively and unanimously.
“The government is going to make an ex-gratia payment, without any admission of liability, but recognising the difficulty, trauma and tragic circumstances of these divers, of $1 million to each of the families of the deceased divers and Mr Boodram. There is no financial compensation that can compensate for the loss of lives in those circumstances.
“I had been asking for this to be done even before we came into 2025. I went to Cabinet and said I was no longer prepared to have these insurers frustrate the process. Let us take a decision, I know the law, it’s ex gratia and then that could go into calculations of whatever damages have to come out if they have to continue in court. It is done, definitively, with the full support of Cabinet.”
He said while the government has remained engaged, it could not force the lawyers and the insurers to assist the families financially. He said the government will reach out to the families an
