00:00It will shock the conscience of this nation to know that the courts in Sri Lanka
00:05will award for the loss of expectation of life $25,000.
00:13Attorney-at-law Prakash Ramadas says it would be an absolute insult to the
00:19families of the LMCS Paria diving tragedy if Paria fuel trading company
00:25Limited chooses to take the root of legal precedence in any calculation of
00:30an ex gratia payment to them. He addressed the news conference called at
00:35his Lodge Street San Fernando office on Tuesday. We are the view that the
00:40unprecedented nature, unprecedented nature of the tragedy demands an ex
00:45gratia payment, wary of avoiding austerity of tabulated legalism.
00:54Accordingly we are instructed our client is prepared to accept an ex gratia
00:59payment in the sum of five million dollars as full and final settlement of
01:03all claims to be made by our client. Ramadas says they outlined their position
01:07months ago and Paria's public statement on Monday which said their efforts to
01:13process the claims for compensation are being frustrated by a lack of
01:17information from LMCS and the legal representatives of the families was
01:23infuriating. So to suggest that you've been frustrated by lack of information
01:28but what bracelets and the age of the workers really talk about frustration
01:34think about the families. The goal of Paria to use the word frustrated when in
01:42fact we are saying we are not we are asking for a global figure you keep
01:46talking about tabulated legalism. We are not on that. Tell us you're refusing to
01:52give us ex gratia payment then we will know we will go to tabulated legalism to
01:58begin with and take it to the highest court. Ramadas says the Privy Council has
02:03indicated on more than one occasion that the awards coming out of TNT are
02:08disproportionate to what is necessary and so if Paria does not put forward an
02:14amenable figure and very soon then the family's attorneys are ready to take the
02:21case through the court system until a new precedent is set and the family see
02:26a favorable outcome. We shall file actions against Paria and LMCS in the
02:33name of each member of the family so that we shall be claiming independent of
02:42each other. If it should become necessary if this should be the case to reset the
02:48value we put on life and living under legal so be it and we give our
02:53commitment that before the opening of the term in September we are prepared to
02:58file action against Paria and LMCS. On February 25th 2022 five LMCS divers 57
03:08year old Faisal Qurban, 31 year old Yusuf Henry, 46 year old Rishi Nagasar, 36 year
03:16old Kazim Ali jr. and Christopher Budram were undergoing underwater pipeline
03:22repair works off point of pay for Paria when they were sucked into a 30-inch
03:27line due to Delta P vent only Budram survived. Sindhi Raghubar Tika Singh TV6 News
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