Former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley is responding to claims that he did not facilitate requests for an interview by a Daily Mail UK journalist, on the topic of the February 2022 Paria Diving tragedy.
The incident and the events that followed have been produced into a six-part podcast series, which is now available on major streaming platforms. Rynessa Cutting has more.
00:00Five divers were forced into a terrifying fight for survival when they got sucked into
00:05an oil pipe only 30 inches wide and dragged hundreds of feet to the bottom of the ocean.
00:12The horroring story of the power diving tragedy is now available on various streaming platforms
00:18for all the world to see.
00:20Pipeline Left to Die is a six-part investigative series by the Daily Mail UK detailing the
00:27circumstances surrounding and following the incident, which resulted in the deaths of
00:32Rishi Nagasar, Faisal Kurban, Kazim Ali Jr. and Yusuf Henry.
00:38Christopher Boudram, the lone survivor, gives his testimony in the podcast.
00:42I can't see, first of all, I can't really feel the extended damages that I have.
00:49So I started to pull myself forward, I couldn't stand, I couldn't sit 90 degrees in the pipe.
00:56Journalist Isabel Stanley and her team visited Trinidad in February this year and began documenting
01:04the events.
01:05According to the local Express newspaper, the Daily Mail UK team was unable to secure interviews
01:11with former Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and then Energy Minister Stuart Young.
01:17But via Facebook posts today, Dr Rowley raised an alarm over the report stating that the implication
01:24is that he was asked but did not respond to questions from the reporter.
01:29In the post, Dr Rowley shows a copy of the letter sent to him by Daily Mail, which he notes contained,
01:35quote, a series of questions and allegations.
01:39Excerpts of the correspondence read, you never compensated the victim's families.
01:45You did not take action to discipline or remove senior paria personnel.
01:50And how do you respond to claims that you appointed your friends into positions of power within the energy sector?
01:57Former Prime Minister Dr Rowley also attached a copy of his response, which he says was sent six days later on May 8th.
02:05In his response, he expresses sadness over the tragic deaths and provides a timeline of the events which occurred in the wake of the incidents,
02:14including the fact that an independent commission of inquiry was held.
02:18Dr Rowley's correspondence for the states that paria had been attempting to achieve a fair and equitable resolution,
02:25but that LMCS has, quote, been reluctant to engage in discussions and has not made the required critical disclosures needed by paria's insurers to determine compensation, end quote.
02:38Dr Rowley goes on to say that notwithstanding the delays, on April 3rd, 2025, the government announced that it will make an ex-crash a payment of $1 million to the lone survivor
02:51and to each of the families of the four victims, which he says must not be construed as an admission of liability, noting that it is an ongoing legal matter.
03:02However, the newly sworn in government has since indicated that the matter of compensation would be best determined by a judicial conference.
03:11It has been three years since the five LMCS divers were sucked into the pipeline on February 25th, 2022.
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