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- [00:06]
Isabel Stanley
We are driving down from the hills above San Fernando, where we know a lot of the executives from Paria live. As our time in Trinidad comes to an end, we take one final drive around San Fernando. We start in the winding roads in the hills above town, lined with mansions and manicured gardens. And I mean, the houses as you drive around here are crazy. It could be Beverly Hills. These areas here and in the capital, Port of Spain are where the Paria officials live, the men who were in charge on the day of the tragedy. Despite the roles they played and the inquiry's conclusion that their company should be charged with corporate manslaughter, their comfortable lives seem to have been virtually unchange. There is so much wealth on display, sort of mansions, book mansions. We managed to find out how much some of them were getting paid in 2024. Colin Piper, the man who made the decision to block LMCS divers from staging a rescue, was paid roughly £8,200amonth. And his boss, Paria's general manager, Mushtaq Mohammed, was taking home roughly 12,000. As we drive down into San Fernando proper, the wealth seeps away. It sort of transforms from this incredibly luxurious gated community feel into very much a working town. The contrast with the center of town, where we know a lot of the workers live, could not be more stark. It really sort of highlights just how differently these two groups of people have been treated three years on from the tragedy. While Paria officials still seem to be living a life of luxury, the same cannot be said for the families of the men they left to die. Foreign Stanley and from the Daily Mail, you're listening to Pipeline, episode 6 landslide. How has your life changed since?
- [03:04]
Salisha Kerben
Totally different. Nothing is the same. Everything just fall apart.
- [03:12]
Isabel Stanley
When we sit down with the families of the divers, our interviews stretch on for hours. We talk about their loved ones and the tragedy. But the hardest thing for them to speak about seems to be what's happened since. When Faisal Kerben died, Salisha lost her husband of 38 years and her three children lost their father.
- [03:41]
Salisha Kerben
My first son is healing his own way. The second one is healing and I just support them. They all live with me.
- [03:46]
Isabel Stanley
Her son Michael was hit particularly hard, as we heard in episode three. He was there on the day of the tragedy and he dived into the pipe to try and pull his father out before Parry blocked any further rescue attempts. And you think he feels guilty?
- [04:04]
Salisha Kerben
Very much so. Every time he will talk to his girlfriend about it and he will get emotional and he's getting emotional with Me as well. And you know.
- [04:17]
Isabel Stanley
And do you miss him?
- [04:19]
Salisha Kerben
Terribly. Terribly. His birthday would have been the 24th of January. Gone. He would have been 60 years when this all finished. I want them to remember him. He must be remembered for the person he is and the worker he is, you know, that is the person he was. Safety first. And this country must not forget him.
- [04:47]
Isabel Stanley
With the intense public scrutiny on the tragedy and the year long inquiry, there was no space for the families to grieve privately. Their loved ones deaths were turned over in minute detail and their own lives were thrust into the spotlight.
- [05:07]
Salisha Kerben
No one should ever have to experience this tragedy we went through as the diver's wife and the families. This is something we should never, never forget.
- [05:20]
Isabel Stanley
Vanessa, Rishi's wife has been left to raise their now six year old son Nashik alone.
- [05:28]
Salisha Kerben
My baby, he, he cries for his dad all the time. Baby Nashik, he cries for his dad all the time.
- [05:35]
Isabel Stanley
Still now?
- [05:36]
Salisha Kerben
Yeah, up to now, every single night he would leave his bed, he would come by me, mommy, I'm coming to sleep by you.
- [05:47]
Isabel Stanley
It's not just the inevitable pain of grief the families have had to deal with since the accident. They've also faced a series of unforeseen and unique horrors.
- [06:00]
Afisha
So at this point when I look at the video and I saw it flies, buzzing on the show and all of a sudden right into Yusef's face, I jump and I pelt my phone down, I was like what in the world? The bod. And they were swollen, ready to pop.
- [06:22]
Isabel Stanley
In the weeks after her brother died, Yusuf's sister Afisha was bombarded with graphic videos of his and the other divers dead bodies. They had somehow been filmed. When they were pumped out of the.
- [06:37]
Afisha
Pipe it was like a minute, it was like a minute long, if so much. And that spread like wildfire. And I took my mom phone, I deleted all social platforms, I left WhatsApp. I was trying to run from that image and still to date it is so fresh in my mind that I had to still see Yusuf in this last stage. At this point I say I am losing my mind. I am not you. I don't know if anyone can relate. Have you ever looked at yourself anymore and don't even recognize yourself? That is what it felt like for me.
- [07:15]
Isabel Stanley
For Kaz, the founder of LMCS and father of one of the divers, Kaz Jr. And his wife Catherine, their grief was compounded by an unimaginable strain. As the diver's employer, Kaz had to go to the inquiry and defend his company's. Actions. I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. I mean the incident, but also the months and years since with the amount of attention that's been on it while dealing with a private tragedy to also have the legal suits and the business and everything else in your life scrutinized.
- [08:02]
Kaz
Yes, it's difficult. It's difficult in a sense like I think my daughter in law has been amazing. Our children have been amazing. While most of them don't live here, they have come home as often as they could, they've brought their grandchildren. And that's the lifeline really to see that life goes on. I have shifted to. I'm grateful for every day. I'm grateful that I am. That I can connect with them and feel and know that consciousness doesn't die, that they're. You can. They're things that transcend death. So I think that's helpful.
- [08:49]
Isabel Stanley
Yeah, because you feel he's not gone.
- [08:52]
Kaz
No, he's not gone. He's not alive here, but he's not gone out of existence.
- [09:02]
Isabel Stanley
They've stayed close with the families of the other divers and they've never stopped their own search for answers.
- [09:10]
Kaz
So you would wonder why these people were left by the board and Newman George, the chairman, and Muhammad and Piper, why weren't they suspended? Why were they left in positions of power during the investigation into their decisions? It is an unjust bias within all this corruption. What is it that's being covered up?
- [09:34]
Isabel Stanley
Their research has become a sort of job. It keeps them busy. Catherine runs a holistic medical clinic. But Kaz hasn't been able to work since the tragedy. Do you have to find new work or what will you do going forwards? And.
- [09:57]
Christopher Boodram
There'S people asking me to work for them every day.
- [09:59]
Isabel Stanley
Right.
- [10:00]
Christopher Boodram
So I mean, I can't bring myself to do anything while this is hanging over. Yeah, but I mean, my seventh year, so what.
- [10:12]
Isabel Stanley
What would be the most meaningful thing for you to see happen now?
- [10:17]
Christopher Boodram
I would like to see Mushtaq Piper own up, admit they were wrong.
- [10:27]
Isabel Stanley
Three years later, Kaz wants an admission from Piper and other Paria officials that they didn't do everything they could to rescue his son or the other divers.
- [10:42]
Christopher Boodram
I don't know what punishment they could get for that. But just the admonition and say that he. Yeah, wrong. They did wrong. They should have saved them or done more to save them.
- [10:52]
Isabel Stanley
Kaz has known Colin Piper personally for over 30 years. They've both been in the oil industry since they were teenagers. So the weekend of the Tragedy as Kaz repeatedly tried to stage a rescue to get his only son out of the pipe, while Piper and Paria stopped him. Time and again, it felt almost personal.
- [11:18]
Kaz
In fact, the commissioner, Jerome, said to him, so you knew this man for 30 years and you knew his son and this was what was going on. You never said anything to him, you didn't inform him and he couldn't answer that question.
- [11:34]
Isabel Stanley
They want support for the families too.
- [11:37]
Christopher Boodram
So I have asked my people, the family, what is justice for them? So I'll tell you what, I will as well get them their compensation for the loss of the family and that would take care of some of the problem. That's all I can ask for at this stage.
- [12:04]
Isabel Stanley
When we speak to the families, they all have that one thing in common. When their loved ones died, they lost a breadwinner and they've all been struggling since. Despite the inquiry's conclusion that the state owned oil company Paria blocked attempts to rescue the men, their families are yet to receive a single penny in compensation from the government. It's hard to understand why. It seems like it would be the easiest way to help them and from a cynical perspective, the quickest way to quell the intense backlash of public anger. The government could have offered the families what's known as an ex gratia payment, without any admission of liability, to help them survive until any necessary legal proceedings are decided. It's common practice in the wake of a disaster, and inquiry chair Jerome lynch noted in his report that such a payment would be an act of kindness and human decency. But all calls for compensation seem to have fallen on deaf ears. When we leave the families, we have to go to the capital, Port of Spain, to try to find out why by February 2025. The government has been in power for 10 years. They oversaw the creation of Paria in 2018, the tragedy in 2022, and all of the fallout since. The ruling party is called the People's National Movement, the pnm. Its longtime leader, Prime Minister Keith Rowley, has recently announced he's going to hand over the reins to his Energy minister, Stuart Young. And it's an election year. There's no date set, but we've been told it will be in late summer or the autumn. As we near the end of our trip, we message both Stuart Young and Keith Rowley, asking for an interview. Specifically, we want to ask them why, after three years, their government hasn't offered any financial support to the families. But neither of them replies to our texts in time. So we decide to Go and ask them ourselves. When do you think the election's gonna be?
- [15:00]
Afisha
My contact, she suspected, might be somewhere by around August.
- [15:04]
Isabel Stanley
Yeah. We are just waiting now for Keith Rowley to show up. There's a big crowd of journalists out here. They are waiting for the debate, which is to going to be in Parliament this afternoon and evening. And we've been told that. We've been told that the Prime Minister will drive in directly and won't stop, so we'll see what we get. Stuart Young arrives early and goes in before we can speak with him. But then Keith Rowley pulls up across from where we're standing. He's showing no sign of stopping to chat, so I have to shout at him across the car park. Excuse me, Prime Minister, why haven't you compensated the PAR victims? That's how it goes. It doesn't go very well at all. In fact, it's very embarrassing. He completely ignores me and ducks inside the building. I'll try him again in the next few days. Keith Rowley and Stuart Young aren't the only ones we want to talk to. And luckily those from the opposition party, the United National Congress, the unc, are much more obliging.
- [16:22]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
And this particular tragedy, I think, is one of the worst industrial accidents we have witnessed in Trinidad and Tobago.
- [16:29]
Isabel Stanley
Kamlo Pursid Besesa is the leader of the uncle. She was Trinidad's first female prime minister from 2010 to 2015, and three years later remains unresolved.
- [16:43]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
The divers and their families have been not compensated in any way.
- [16:48]
Isabel Stanley
She's been a staunch advocate for the families since the day of the tragedy. Many of them support the unc and Christopher's lawyer, Anand Ramlogan, even used to be the party's Attorney General.
- [17:03]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
What is even more frightening, and I think harder ending, is that the divers underwater in that pipeline. The autopsy has shown that they could have been alive for 39 hours and their families were out up top, on ground, on land. They got no word and that has continued up to today. That's no care. No care from the government.
- [17:30]
Isabel Stanley
With the election believed to be a few months away, she's already in campaign mode when we speak to her and she's clear what she would do if her party were in power first, she promises she would pursue legal action against those at Paria and beyond who were responsible for the tragedy.
- [17:52]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
When we form the government, we will find those who are responsible. They will be held accountable and they will be charged according to law and certainly at the earliest step.
- [18:02]
Isabel Stanley
And she would compensate the victims families.
- [18:06]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
We don't have to wait for liability to be determined. We don't have to wait for the damages to be assessed for compensation. We can give that help, and we commit as a party, we will do that from day one, when we form the government and take office in Trinidad and Tobago, we can give them an excruciative payment instantly and immediately.
- [18:27]
Isabel Stanley
Although there's no guarantee that the UNC will win the election, Kamla's promises are music to the family's ears. After three years of waiting, it's a meaningful commitment from someone who could soon be in a position of great power to help them. When we got back from Trinidad in February 2025 and started writing this series, we thought that promise was what we were going to end on. With the election still months away, we were going to ask two questions. Would Kamala win? Would. And after all this time, would the families finally get justice? But then we had to tear up that plan. In March, Stuart Young took over as prime minister, as scheduled. Now, not only was he the energy minister at the time of the tragedy, he'd also become the most powerful man in the country. We wrote an opinion piece in the Trinidad Express explaining what we were doing to try and get his attention and get him to speak to us. Still nothing. Then that same day, Christopher's lawyer, Anand, called. Hello. Hello. Sorry about that. I spoke to Bella, and she said it was better to just do it on WhatsApp and I'll record that.
- [20:12]
Anand Ramlogan
Sure, that's fine.
- [20:13]
Isabel Stanley
It would be great to have you sort of summarize for us.
- [20:17]
Anand Ramlogan
I mean, this is good. It's too close to call. It's too close to call.
- [20:21]
Isabel Stanley
Out of nowhere, Stuart Young had called a snap election and had set the date for April 28 months earlier than we thought it would now happen. Before this podcast came out, the timing was odd. Everyone told us the election would be in August at the earliest, but we wrote it off as a coincidence. Anand thought it was anything but.
- [20:51]
Anand Ramlogan
The fact that this podcast series was done in Trinidad is now no longer a secret. And I think that one of the factors that would have influenced a decision to call the election so early is the fact that they want to preempt this podcast series that will highlight the mismanagement and maladministration that plagued this entire tragedy that led to the death, the timely and preventable death of these young men in that pipeline.
- [21:26]
Isabel Stanley
Suddenly, the story was very much not over. We had an election to cover, and this tragedy was at the heart of it. As we count down to the election. We race to get the first few episodes ready. We try to map out what it will mean if either side, Stuart Young and the PNM win or the UNC with Kamala pursed possessor who has personally promised to compensate the families. But the surprises aren't over yet. Two weeks after his shock election announcement, Stuart Young drops another bombshell.
- [22:18]
Stuart Young
This is a matter that bothered me from day one.
- [22:21]
Isabel Stanley
Without warning the families in advance, he rushes out of a cabinet meeting and declares he's going to pay them compensation with no admission of liability. Approximately a hundred thousand pounds per family.
- [22:37]
Stuart Young
One of the first things I wanted to do because I understand the difficulty, the pain, the suffering, the trauma, was to take this decision.
- [22:46]
Isabel Stanley
There's an immediate barrage of news stories about his offer. It's clear Stuart Young hopes it will be the end of the issue, at least as far as the election is concerned.
- [22:58]
Stuart Young
I recognize, as I said yesterday, that anything that is done at this point in time and the decision that we took is going to be politicized. But what I am certain of is I did it with pure intentions and I have done what I can do in a position that I now want.
- [23:17]
Isabel Stanley
But the families aren't convinced. Christopher gives a statement to the press expressing his frustration that it's taken three years for him to make any such offer and questioning the timing. And when I speak to Anand again, he's even more blunt. He dismisses it as blatant electioneering.
- [23:41]
Anand Ramlogan
It was clearly done for announcement political value. Having rushed outside the cabinet meeting to capture primetime media attention to make the announcement, nothing is happening. So this entire tragedy has become a vulgar and obscene political scandal which has come back to haunt Prime Minister Young, who is facing a general election with people crying out for justice for these divers and their families. Prime Minister Young's offer of an extra payment to the families came after the leader of the opposition said she would make it a matter of priority for her new government.
- [24:33]
Anna Ramdas
Good evening and welcome to race to 21.
- [24:35]
Isabel Stanley
When polling day rolls around on April 28, it seems much of the country feels the same.
- [24:43]
Keith Rowley
As well as detailed analysis of the developments.
- [24:45]
Isabel Stanley
I wake up in New York and watch the news as the results start coming in hours later, it's a landslide.
- [24:56]
Keith Rowley
The 9th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, the right is Honorable Kamala Prasad Besesa.
- [25:08]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
When God says yes, nobody can say no.
- [25:14]
Isabel Stanley
Kamla Persad Bissessa is elected prime minister. It's a momentous win for the families. Given what she promised us before the election, that this tragedy would be a day one issue for her party. It seems the happiest possible ending could be on the horizon. There may finally be, after three years of waiting, some form of closure. As we get closer to publication day, we're hopeful that the compensation she promised will be made official and the families will receive the support that they desperately need. But when asked at a press conference in May, Prime Minister Persid Bersessa mentions legal hurdles.
- [26:11]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
There may be an appearance of a conflict of interest. I know the former Prime Minister Stuart Young promises $1 million and so on. We are looking at it to see how best we can do it. But there's a bit of a complication which I'll need further advice from the lawyers for the state.
- [26:27]
Isabel Stanley
It quickly becomes clear there's not going to be a miracle overnight.
- [26:33]
Anna Ramdas
There is no timeline on promises, so something can be promised and it will take years to be delivered.
- [26:40]
Isabel Stanley
That's Anna Ramdas, a political journalist in Trinidad. She's covered the tragedy from Parliament since the day it happened.
- [26:49]
Anna Ramdas
You know, it doesn't matter which political party is in power. This is just the normal course of things. So it's not as though I make a promise today and it's delivered tomorrow. There's no such speed in Trinidad and Tobago. So The Prime Minister, Mrs. Posabi Sesta, did indicate that her administration is actively exploring how best to compensate the victims of this tragedy. And she did indeed indicate as well that it's a legally complex issue. So it's not definite, not something that has clear answers.
- [27:24]
Isabel Stanley
So.
- [27:25]
Anna Ramdas
And there's so much, obviously, when a government changes, there are so many pressing issues to attend to, so I'm not sure when this issue would actually be at the forefront.
- [27:38]
Isabel Stanley
At the time of recording, it's been six weeks since the election. There's still been no payment. There's only the hope. Kamla pursed. Bersessa makes good on her promise to the families to pay them compensation and to hold those responsible for the men's deaths accountable in a court of law. This story led us to Trinidad's Parliament, but it should never have ended up there. It should never have been an election issue in the first place. The men should have been rescued, their families cared for and lessons learned. But that isn't what happened. The men are dead. Their families are struggling to make ends meet, while those at Paria who were responsible for leaving them to die are still living in their houses on the hill. It's easy to get caught up in all the drama of the bombshell's promises and politics, but this story can't Be about that. Yep. So we are driving down Christopher's sort of road now. Back in February, on our final day in Trinidad, we went to visit Christopher Boodram at his home. His house is sandwiched between the oil refinery and the sea at the end of a long and bumpy road. How are your kids at school?
- [29:32]
Keith Rowley
No, two. Two girls. I'll introduce them.
- [29:36]
Isabel Stanley
Christopher's wife, Candy is at work as a nurse at San Fernando General Hospital. And three of their children, Carlisle, Shania and Sophia, are out most improved students.
- [29:50]
Keith Rowley
Or something like that.
- [29:51]
Isabel Stanley
But two of their daughters, Chloe and Sierra, are here. Hi, Sierra, I'm Izzy. As we sit down on his sofa to talk, his daughters run around the room. They're delighted to have guests. Sierra, who's seven, shows us her gymnastics and Chloe brings out their collection of squishies and tells us all about her school. Yeah, I've been formed too of the secondary school is college. I want to be a therapist. I saw that actually in the article. Because of your dad? Yeah. How about you? What are you up to? While we all chat, Christopher flicks through his phone, a smile on his face, looking for a video that he wants to show us.
- [30:43]
Keith Rowley
Faisal and I on a job in Chagramas many years ago, doing some underwater burning.
- [30:51]
Isabel Stanley
It's of him and Faisal at work, diving together years ago. As the video plays, Christopher's eyes turn sad. That's you from Fize recording?
- [31:03]
Keith Rowley
Yeah, for same LMCs we did his job.
- [31:08]
Isabel Stanley
Does watching it make you miss the. See, that's Ricky. Yeah.
- [31:13]
Kaz
Wow.
- [31:16]
Keith Rowley
Makes me surprise you more than anything else.
- [31:20]
Isabel Stanley
To this day, that's the hardest thing for Christopher. Thinking about his friends, his brothers that he had to leave behind inside the Pike. When I sit down with him later to ask a few final questions, that's what we keep coming back to.
- [31:45]
Keith Rowley
I made promises that eventually couldn't keep and that is something that I can't let go of. It is really hurt me to know that. I tell them fellas taking them out of the end, we getting out of here and I was so close. I reach out, I tell them, I tell the people and them and every single day I just replay this in my mind and how what different could I have done so these people could have their loved ones with them? You know, why only me live? Did I deserve what give me that right to live? That has been my questions in my.
- [32:42]
Isabel Stanley
Mind, that question, that guilt is what keeps him up at night. It runs through his brain day after day, disrupting every aspect of his life. Is it Is it still as painful now?
- [33:04]
Keith Rowley
I don't know. Since after this incident my emotions has been all over. I don't know how long I could keep going on like this. My emotions off the charts, you know, sometimes I just get mad with anybody and everybody. But yeah, the edge haven't isn't dull yet. And I strike to try to build a mental wall around it. But every little thing will bring me back to the same spot it's hurt.
- [33:43]
Isabel Stanley
His relationship with his wife and his children who are still too young to understand exactly where their fun, carefree father has gone.
- [33:55]
Keith Rowley
Simple as my last daughter and my second daughter begging me to take them to Fun Splash Water Park. And just the thought of seeing water coming through them pipelines was. And I just, I can't think about it. And I don't even want to see my own kids pass through a pipe right now, you know, so they'll be begging with daddy, let me go here, let me do this. I'm not ready to do that.
- [34:35]
Isabel Stanley
And the memories have turned his once beloved to family home into a hellhole.
- [34:42]
Keith Rowley
Where I'm living. I'm living so close to the sea, so close to the accident. Every day I drop my kids to school, I pass them right in front of and I see where Paria mistreated these people and everything around me in this country right now that just remind me of this accident.
- [35:08]
Isabel Stanley
But he can't afford to move. He hasn't been able to work since the accident. Would you ever leave? I mean, could you ever move away?
- [35:20]
Keith Rowley
What? A year ago, me and my wife had started a process. My wife and I, sorry had started a process with Canada Troy Agency and we were not able to financially fulfill that. The revenue I used to bring into my household was much greater than what my wife bringing. I don't think I could ever go back into diving.
- [35:52]
Isabel Stanley
No.
- [35:54]
Keith Rowley
I not even have the focus.
- [35:58]
Isabel Stanley
To.
- [35:58]
Keith Rowley
Do any kind of thing right now.
- [36:01]
Isabel Stanley
If you were to get the financial compensation, what would you use it for?
- [36:06]
Keith Rowley
I would try to get him out of Trinidad.
- [36:11]
Isabel Stanley
That's what he would use the compensation for, to move somewhere, anywhere really where he could live more than a few hundred meters away from the pipe he was trapped in. He hopes that would give him even a minute's reprieve from the constant guilt and agony he's lived with since he woke up in that hospital bed all those years ago and realised his friends were still inside the pipe, exactly where he left them. Christopher grew up in the ocean. He swam, fished, dived. But since the tragedy, he can't stand the sight of it. It's torture for someone who lives on a tiny island with the sea at the end of his road.
- [37:06]
Keith Rowley
Closest I think I reached was in the yacht club for one of the memorial days. The yacht club, was it San Fernando Yacht Club?
- [37:15]
Isabel Stanley
Yeah.
- [37:16]
Keith Rowley
The families had a little Memorial Day, I think on the 25th of February they have one.
- [37:25]
Isabel Stanley
Yeah.
- [37:26]
Keith Rowley
And I go for the bare fact I want to show the families my support, you know, because I know for them it may come across unfair for me to be alive and their husbands to be, you know.
- [37:46]
Isabel Stanley
Surely not. You didn't choose this.
- [37:52]
Keith Rowley
I didn't bring all the husbands either. I promised those guys that. Bro, I'll get you out of here. Even if the boat on fire coming back fair and not leaving Alenia. And I left them inside there. I think I need to take a break.
- [38:28]
Isabel Stanley
On that last day. Just as we're about to leave, Christopher stands and draws a deep breath. Then he makes an offer.
- [38:39]
Keith Rowley
Y' all want to go down and see what's got my boots? And he would be able to see.
- [38:44]
Isabel Stanley
The platform on him almost casually, as if trying to convince himself it's not a big deal. He offers to take us down to the sea by his house. The girls want to come too. And Christopher doesn't think our rental car will make it through the potholes. So we all climb into his pickup truck and begin the bumpy drive down the road. A few minutes later, we stop at a clearing in the trees. The water is just visible through their branches.
- [39:24]
Keith Rowley
So Clio walk with her. Annika, Chushy are next to both. That one there. Anyone in water?
- [39:29]
Isabel Stanley
Can I pour?
- [39:30]
Keith Rowley
Yes, you can. Don't go any water.
- [39:32]
Isabel Stanley
Bella and I climb out and start to walk down to the beach with Chloe and Sierra. Christopher stays in the car. He can't bring himself to get out. And we used to go to the beach a lot, but then. But then when I turn six, we stop going to the beach. When we reach the water's edge, Chloe points at something just offshore. It's the platform leading out to berth six where the accident happened. It's right there in Christopher's backyard. So like that long ramp, like somewhere there was the accident. Yeah. As we turn our backs on the water birth, 6 is immediately forgotten. Sierra is back to telling us about her favorite animals is hamster monkey, puppies and.
- [40:37]
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Zebra.
- [40:38]
Isabel Stanley
And as we get back into the car, Christopher looks around the clearing.
- [40:43]
Keith Rowley
All this was mangrove. And maybe about 10 years ago, my brother and I, we came and cleaned up the place and Cut the grass and cut a lot of trees and, you know, start planting a little coconut trees, some fig trees, other fruit trees that didn't survive because I can't come down here and maintain it anymore.
- [41:03]
Isabel Stanley
He used to work down here all the time.
- [41:05]
Keith Rowley
We used to host things because you could see the village is kind of poor to sense it. Little camps and all that kind of thing. Used to be nice, but since the accident, everything just come to a halt. All this walk, we aren't thinking. We cast, you could see it over. Kind of grown now and not being really kept.
- [41:27]
Isabel Stanley
Do you. Do you ever come down here now?
- [41:29]
Keith Rowley
No. The last time I've been down here was a day before the accident.
- [41:38]
Isabel Stanley
Thank you for taking us. As we drive home, the sea receding in the rear view mirror and Christopher keeping his eyes firmly on the road ahead, Sierra goes quiet and then she pipes up with a question. Daddy. Daddy.
- [41:58]
Keith Rowley
Yeah, Sunny? Why we what?
- [42:03]
Isabel Stanley
Why we stop swimming on the beach? She asks Christopher. Why did we stop swimming at the beach? There's a long pause. Bella and I hold our breaths because.
- [42:25]
Keith Rowley
Mom, we don't have the time to take you guys over that.
- [42:30]
Isabel Stanley
It's not clear if Sierra believes him or if she knows there's more to it. If she knows her father can't go to the beach anymore. Not since that day. That's what this story is about. It's about four men who were sucked into an underwater oil pipe and left to die deep beneath the sea. But they're not the only ones who have paid the price for this tragedy. It's their wives who are raising their children alone, their mothers mourning their sons and their daughters who can't play at the beach anymore. And it's the fifth diver who has been fighting for justice, justice ever since. He's still fighting today to buy the hamster too.
- [43:52]
Keith Rowley
What are you going to want?
- [43:54]
Isabel Stanley
Are we going to buy the hamster?
- [43:57]
Keith Rowley
The hamster?
- [43:58]
Afisha
Yeah.
- [44:01]
Keith Rowley
Fair. But they all get fit.
- [44:02]
Isabel Stanley
Yay.
- [44:05]
Keith Rowley
Me. Seeing this on the record.
- [44:21]
Isabel Stanley
We contacted Pariah Mushtaq Mohammed, Colin Piper and Stuart Young for comment, but did not receive a response. Keith Rowley replied to us via email after we left Trinidad. He expressed his sympathy for the families and claimed that it had not been possible for him to intervene in the compensation process while he was Prime Minister. But he said that he had urged Paria after the tragedy to reach a settlement quickly. Pipeline is presented by me, Isabel Stanley. It is produced by Bella Soames. Sound design is by John Scott. Additional reporting by Andy Uring. Additional production by John Rogers, and our executive producer is Jamie East.