Nearly two years after a horrific underwater tragedy gripped Trinidad & Tobago, the final investigation report has confirmed what grieving families feared most — the four scuba divers who died in a pipeline were failed by those who should have saved them.

A devastating report from the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) has found that state-owned oil company Paria Fuel Trading was “grossly negligent” and potentially criminal in how it handled the 2022 pipeline disaster that killed:

  • Rishi Nagassar (48)
  • Fyzal Kurban (57)
  • Kazim Ali Jr (37)
  • Yusuf Henry (31)

A fifth diver, Christopher Boodram, survived — but still carries the emotional and psychological scars of that day.

“They Were Alive… Waiting for Help”

The tragedy unfolded on February 25, 2022, as the five divers — working at an 18-meter depth near Pointe-a-Pierre — were performing routine maintenance inside a 90cm undersea oil pipeline. But when they removed an internal plug, a violent vacuum effect sucked all five men deep into the pipe.

Inside the pitch-black shaft, the divers found themselves alive and breathing through shrinking air pockets. Over the course of days, four of them slowly perished — not from the accident itself, but from being abandoned without rescue.

Only Boodram made it out, saved not by authorities but by volunteer family members who risked their lives — and were later stopped from continuing by Paria, who cited “health and safety” concerns.

“Paria Did Nothing”: The Report’s Brutal Findings

The Commission didn’t hold back:

“Paria made little or no attempt to rescue the divers… The opportunity to save them was completely wasted by a degree of inertia that is difficult to comprehend.”

Paria, the report notes, refused to allow trained commercial divers or the victims’ own families to continue the rescue. It delayed deploying underwater cameras, searched the wrong areas for hours, and ignored first-hand information that the men were alive.

As a result, the report recommends that Paria face corporate manslaughter charges, and has urged the Director of Public Prosecutions to file charges against:

  • Colin Piper, Paria Terminal Operations Manager
  • Kazim Ali Sr, LMCS Managing Director — despite the fact his own son died in the pipeline.

Grief, Fury, and Forgiveness

Vanessa Kussie, widow of Rishi Nagassar, is demanding lifetime compensation based on the divers’ salaries and calling for the entire Paria board to resign:

“Paria refused to accept responsibility. We lost everything. Our families are still struggling to live.”

Survivor Christopher Boodram, whose haunting account of the rescue attempt has made headlines worldwide, says he’s still haunted by guilt and trauma:

“I haven’t been able to dive since. Diving was my passion. But now… I feel it might’ve been easier if I had died too.”

Still, both Boodram and Kussie have extended an olive branch to Kazim Ali Sr, expressing compassion for his loss and stating they do not wish for him to be prosecuted, despite his company’s involvement.

No Apologies. No Accountability?

Shockingly, Paria has never publicly apologized to the families. The report paints a picture of a company more concerned with protocol than with human life — even as men were literally dying just meters away.

The case has since sparked global outrage, amplified by the popular “Pipeline: Left to Die” podcast, which investigates the tragedy in harrowing detail.

Will Justice Be Served?

As legal proceedings loom, the people of Trinidad & Tobago — and the global diving community — now wait to see if true accountability will follow these damning revelations.

Until then, the final words belong to those who lost the most:

“They were alive. They were waiting. And no one came.”