Soap Opera | Episode 4

Summary

Pipeline: Episode 4 - "Soap Opera"

Host: Isabelle Stanley
Reporter: Andrew Jehring
Producer: Bella Soames
Episode Release Date: June 5, 2025

---

Introduction to the Tragedy

In February 2022, a routine diving operation off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago turned into a nightmare when five professional divers were tragically sucked hundreds of feet into an underwater oil pipeline. While one diver, Christopher Boodram, managed to escape, the remaining four were left to perish, sparking a crisis that would unravel issues of safety negligence, corporate responsibility, and political entanglements.

The Immediate Aftermath and Public Outcry

Following the disaster, surviving diver Christopher Boodram became the sole witness to the harrowing events. As families awaited news, frustration and anger mounted over the perceived inaction and lack of rescue efforts.

Isabelle Stanley [03:09]:
“Our families mourn, but they aren’t just sad, they’re angry.”

In response to public demands for accountability, Trinidad’s then Energy Minister Stuart Young initiated a public inquiry. The inquiry was streamed live, capturing the nation’s attention nightly as thousands tuned in to witness the unfolding drama.

Public Skepticism and Media Influence

As the inquiry progressed, skepticism about Christopher’s account began to surface, fueled largely by social media influencers like Rhoda Barreth.

Isabelle Stanley [07:38]:
“Rhoda Barreth, a well-known commentator, released previously unseen GoPro footage that showed no signs of the divers being alive, casting doubt on Christopher’s testimony.”

This footage, shared with her 66,000 Facebook followers, ignited a flurry of negative comments questioning the survivors' accounts and suggesting inconsistencies in their stories. The emotional toll on Christopher was immense, leading him to doubt his own memories.

Christopher Boodram [07:38]:
“I went mad off our reading social commentary and I was like, what's going on here? Sometimes I was even doubting my recollection of the events too.”

The Public Inquiry: Unveiling the Truth

Jerome Lynch, one of the UK’s top international criminal barristers, was appointed to lead the public inquiry. His extensive experience lent credibility to the investigation, which meticulously gathered testimonies and critical evidence.

Jerome Lynch [09:26]:
“We received tens of thousands of pages of material. We then scheduled a number of public hearings...”

A pivotal moment in the inquiry came with the revelation of authentic GoPro footage confirming the divers' survival inside the pipe, validating Christopher’s account and dispelling earlier doubts.

Jerome Lynch [11:52]:
“The GoPro footage was an essential part of the narrative... It was enough to corroborate what Christopher was saying.”

Christopher Boodram [13:02]:
“When the audio played, the whole country just realized this man was telling the truth.”

Root Cause Analysis: The Delta P Catastrophe

Engineer Zaid, a failure analysis consultant, explained that the incident was caused by a "Delta P" – a differential pressure scenario where the habitat’s high-pressure environment was compromised by a lower pressure in the oil pipeline.

Isabelle Stanley [18:08]:
“Zaid concluded the men were sucked into the pipe because of a Delta P...”

Weeks prior to the accident, a critical error occurred when the contractor, LMCS, removed more oil from the pipeline than intended, creating a vacuum that made the environment susceptible to a sudden surge of seawater and air when the inflatable plug was dislodged.

Andrew [22:08]:
“They created that situation and they would have mitigated it by changing the methodology with respect to removal of the plug.”

Corporate Negligence and Shared Responsibility

The inquiry's findings were damning for both Paria and LMCS, highlighting a complete oversight of the Delta P risk in their safety protocols.

Jerome Lynch [24:11]:
“It seemed to me that that is a cardinal error that no one gave proper consideration to.”

Despite shared responsibilities, the failure to recognize and mitigate the Delta P risk pointed to systemic negligence within both companies.

Personal Toll and Continued Struggles

The tragedy not only affected the families of the divers but also took a severe emotional toll on Christopher Boodram. As public skepticism eroded his confidence, the GoPro footage was the only beacon of truth that restored his mental stability.

Christopher Boodram [09:42]:
“I was unsure about my own mental state...”

Meanwhile, Kazim Ali Sr., owner of LMCS and father of one of the deceased divers, faced intense scrutiny during the inquiry, grappling with both personal grief and professional accountability.

Kazim Ali Sr. [26:10]:
“We didn't realize how much oil had been taken out because it was Paria's job to keep track.”

Jerome Lynch's Comprehensive Report

After extensive deliberation, Jerome Lynch concluded that the accident was a result of gross negligence by both Paria and LMCS, recommending that Paria be considered for corporate manslaughter charges.

Jerome Lynch [39:19]:
“It was a failure of a whole series of people.”

His 300-page report offered 52 recommendations aimed at preventing such disasters in the future, marking a significant moment of accountability.

Ongoing Frustrations and Unanswered Questions

Despite the inquiry’s conclusions, many, including Christopher Boodram, remained dissatisfied with the lack of actionable outcomes.

Christopher Boodram [42:01]:
“The inquiry was a waste of time. Millions of dollars were spent, but nothing was implemented.”

The investigation exposed a network of negligence and obfuscation, yet the quest for justice and truth continues as key players like Paria and their officials remain unresponsive.

Conclusion: A Tale of Tragedy and Accountability

"Soap Opera" delves deep into the multifaceted tragedy of the Parriere diving disaster, uncovering layers of corporate negligence, personal anguish, and the relentless pursuit of truth. As Pipeline continues to unravel this complex narrative, it raises critical questions about safety standards, corporate responsibility, and the very human cost of industrial oversight.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Isabelle Stanley [32:38]:
  “Once he knew the men were in the pipe, he decided it was too dangerous to let anyone else risk going in.”

• Colin Piper [35:24]:
  “Put yourself in that position on that night... you simply do not understand what we went through that night.”

• Jerome Lynch [39:33]:
  “It is unforgivable that no real attempt was made to rescue those men.”

---

Contact Information:
Get in touch: [e-mail]
Support Christopher Boodram: Support Link

---

Credits:
Produced by Bella Soames
Sound Design by John Scott
Additional Reporting by Andrew Jehring
Additional Production by John Rogers
Executive Producers: Bella Soames, Jamie East

---

Pipeline continues to explore the depths of this tragedy in subsequent episodes, shedding light on the systemic failures that led to one of the most devastating industrial accidents in recent history.

Transcript

[Isabelle Stanley]

Seriously popular.

[Jerome Lynch]

If you like this episode, we think you'll love this.

[David Patrick Arakos]

I'm David Patrick Arakos, and on this week's episode of Apocalypse now, we look at Operation Spiderweb, the dazzling Ukrainian assault 8,000 kilometers into Russian territory. And we talk about drone safaris in which Russian forces are now hunting humans as people hunt animals. Listen to Apocalypse now where? Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jerome Lynch]

If you like this episode, we think you'll love this.

[Bryony]

This week on the Life of Bryony. What would you do if you lost your voice completely? Talking was extremely hard. That's exactly what happened to Delta Goodrum. And in this episode, she opens up about the cancer diagnosis that stopped her world at 18. Plus the long, painful road to finding herself again off stage and out of the spotlight. Right now, we' having more fun than we ever have in my life. I think you let go of thinking how anything should be available to watch and listen now on the Life of Bryony.

[Andrew]

Hello. Hi, is that Mr. Piper?

[Isabelle Stanley]

That's Colin Piper, the man in charge of leading Paria's emergency response team the day our five divers were sucked into an underwater oil pile. My colleague Andy is standing at the front gate of his house.

[Andrew]

My name's Andrew. I'm doing a podcast on the Parriere diving disaster.

[Isabelle Stanley]

I was hoping you could spare me.

[Bryony]

Two minutes of your time.

[Isabelle Stanley]

We've been told it was Colin Piper who made the decision to block LMCs and other divers from going into the pipe to rescue the four men trapped inside. We want to ask him why you wouldn't discuss it. I just. I just wondered. We've spoken at length to some of the victims of.

[Colin Piper]

Just let me come out.

[Isabelle Stanley]

So.

[Andrew]

Yeah, sure.

[Colin Piper]

You know there's still an investigation, right? So I. At this point in time, Andrew. Sorry, I will not comment.

[Isabelle Stanley]

But what about just.

[Colin Piper]

And I doubt I may ever comment, by the way, you're recording, right?

[Isabelle Stanley]

Yeah. This is.

[Colin Piper]

I prefer you don't.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Colin Piper]

I prefer you don't. So have you stopped?

[Isabelle Stanley]

He won't talk to us. We'll have to find answers to our questions another way. And there's one very good place to start. Justice for the divers. In the days after the divers dead bodies are flushed out of the oil pipe, their families mourn. But they aren't just sad, they're angry.

[Andrew]

Without a conscience.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Yes. Tell them.

[Christopher Boodram]

Tell them, brother.

[Isabelle Stanley]

So this is the ninth night of nine nights we run this. Similar to awake. They demand answers. They want to know why Parriat banned LMCs from carrying out a rescue and why they never launch their own. What we know is that five of them were trapped in a pipe. One was rescued. The people who rescued that first guy, Christopher Boudram, were going to continue to rescue the others and they were stopped. Why were they stopped? In response to their fury, Trinidad's then Energy Minister Stuart Young launches a public inquiry into the tragedy. Colin Piper and other Pari officials are called as witnesses. And the whole thing is streamed live for the country to watch thousands tune in every night.

[Jerome Lynch]

What was clear is that there were people who were watching it avidly every day and if they were at work, they were recording it and watching it every night.

[Isabelle Stanley]

We came like a soap opera, you.

[Bryony]

Know, it was something that you had.

[Andrew]

To catch and if you didn't catch it, you caught it later on on YouTube.

[Isabelle Stanley]

And its conclusions are damning.

[Jerome Lynch]

Let's be clear, this was no act of God or mere unlucky accident.

[Isabelle Stanley]

I'm Isabelle Stanley and from the Mel, you're listening to Pipeline, episode four soap opera. When Christopher Boodram, the sole survivor, is released from hospital days after the tragedy. He's famous. Trinidad is fixated on the accident. Rumors spiral as people try to work out what happened and why the four divers weren't saved. Everyone wants to talk to him. Everywhere we go, everywhere he go, they will recognize him. That's Candy, Christopher's wife. So people would come up and say, ask questions or yes, they do. I mean, majority of the times they do come from a genuine concern or they might just genuinely want to say.

[Christopher Boodram]

You'Re all brave, you know, just maybe.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Give him some type of kind words. At first people are friendly. But then something shifts. It takes months for the inquiry to get underway and in that time the lack of concrete information becomes a breeding ground for conspiracies.

[Christopher Boodram]

Before the build up to the inquiry, it was only negative comments on social media that Christopher was never any pipe, he lying, he's a fraud.

[Isabelle Stanley]

People start to question Christopher's account. They turn on him in the comments under news articles and social media posts. They wrongly suggest that his story is so wild, so unbelievable that he must be lying about something. There's one person in particular, a well known commentator in Trinidad named Rhoda Barreth, who's driving some of the doubts. So I got access to some footage two weeks after the tragedy. She somehow manages to obtain footage from a camera Paria sent inside of the pipe at midnight on the day of the accident. It's footage only Paria has seen. It's sensitive and key to any investigation, but she shares it with her 66,000 followers on Facebook. And I just want to reiterate, in the entire 12 minutes or so of footage that I looked at, there was. And you all would. You all are here with me looking at it. There's no air pocket of. There's no air pocket and there's no sign of human form. It's not clear how Rhoda Barreth obtained the footage or why she shared it, but it has a devastating effect. Dozens of comments appear under her video and people use it to question Christopher's version of events. One reads, so there was no way they could have stayed alive for three days, as they say. Another says, if the tanks became dislodged from the diversity, how on earth are they trying to convince the public that they were alive?

[Christopher Boodram]

I went mad off our reading social commentary and I was like, what's going on here? And I was unsure about my own mental, you know, hell too, because I didn't know if I'm making up all of this thing. Sometimes I was even doubting my recollection of the events too, because I was saying in my head, did I really talk to the people?

[Isabelle Stanley]

It sounds absurd in hindsight, but at this point, there's no proof of Christopher's account. It's just his word that he was in the pipe, that they were all alive in an air bubble and that if a rescue had been launched, they could have been saved. Rhoda Barrett, who ran a page called News Source and was a known person on social media, she released footage from the camp that not even we had. Anandram Logan is Christopher's lawyer and a former Attorney General of Trinidad. Well, you know, Christopher started doubting himself and thought he was hallucinating. He started doubting whether those guys were that, you know, did I really. Was I really in that pipeline with these guys? And to post corn on the fact of survival inside that pipeline, in that air pocket, it was atrocious and it really. It was creepy, it was sinister, it was ominous.

[Colin Piper]

There's no other way to describe it.

[Isabelle Stanley]

The vitro continued for months, until November 21, the day the inquiry starts.

[Jerome Lynch]

So, I'm Jerome Lynch, I'm King's Counsel.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Jerome lynch is one of the UK's top international criminal barristers. When I speak to him, he's in Bermuda working on a case, but this time three years ago, he was in Trinidad leading the public inquiry into the tragedy.

[Jerome Lynch]

I was first commissioned in 2022, in July, and I held, within a very short space of time, the first public hearing, which was in September of That.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Year, when Jerome takes on the job, he walks into a maelstrom.

[Jerome Lynch]

I've been doing this job for over 40 years and I have seen some terrible, terrible crimes. I've represented the defendants in some of the most heinous cases. But you know, this is a human story.

[Isabelle Stanley]

He starts to gather testimonies and documents.

[Jerome Lynch]

We received tens of thousands of pages of material. We then scheduled a number of public hearings in November, December and then into 2023 in January.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Officials from Paria, LMCs and third party diving companies are called as witnesses and gather in the venue in Trinidad's capital, Port of Spain. As Christopher drives there for the first day, he hears what people are saying about him on the news.

[Christopher Boodram]

Even while I was attending the commission of inquiries, they are driving up the road and a friend called me and told me that a popular radio station was blasting me on the radio station and saying that Chris them there wasn't certified. He didn't know what he was doing, he was never in a pipe, how he could be conscious.

[Isabelle Stanley]

And then that day, the inquiry reveals something that puts an end to any doubt over his story.

[Andrew]

We wish to advise persons in the room and viewing virtually that the footage contains distressing and graphic contents of the harrowing experiences of the divers.

[Isabelle Stanley]

You've heard it already. It's the GoPro footage of the men very much alive inside the pipe.

[Jerome Lynch]

The GoPro footage was an essential part of the narrative because this is not something reliant on memory or trying to get it right or not right. The bit that we selected was enough for it to corroborate what Christopher Boudreaux was saying.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Jerome and the inquiry recovered the GoPro as part of their investigation and have been keeping the footage secret, holding it back as a key piece of evidence. They didn't want any witnesses to hear it in advance in case it altered the statements they submitted. Not even Christopher knows it exists.

[Jerome Lynch]

One of the things that impressed me was when I first read his account, you begin to have a little doubt creep in as to whether what he's saying is true or not true.

[Isabelle Stanley]

The events captured on the GoPro, the divers being sucked into the pipe, finding one another alive in an air pocket and debating which way to move to safety, prove that everything Christopher has been saying since he managed to fight his way out is true.

[Jerome Lynch]

And he, he gave his account before that GoPro became available. I think his account is as accurate and as fair as it could be.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Christopher can't believe it. After months of fearing he's losing his mind, he's Vindicated.

[Christopher Boodram]

After the audio played the whole world just or the whole country just went this man was telling me truth. And it's only when that audio play that just like that relieved man put back some sense in my head to know that yes this your live was real and they didn't make up this.

[Jerome Lynch]

And I think Mr. Baharaj, we're starting with Mr. Boodram this morning, are we not?

[Isabelle Stanley]

The next day, Christopher is the first witness called to tell his story.

[Andrew]

I see Christopher Woodram.

[Christopher Boodram]

Solemnly solemnly swear. Swear by the evidence.

[Jerome Lynch]

And we are conscious of the fact. This is not going to be easy for you.

[Isabelle Stanley]

He's dressed smartly in a white T shirt and suit jacket. He looks determined.

[Andrew]

On 25 February 2022, you were employed with LMCS Limited and you were employed as a diver.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Yeah. But as the hours go by and he reaches the part of his account where he has to leave his friends behind. Take your time. He weeps.

[Christopher Boodram]

I would have meant that at least I could be here and do what I do for I would have loved.

[Andrew]

Cause I feel him every other week. I apologize.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Christopher tells the inquiry the same story that he told us in episode two. How he was sucked into the pipe. How he prayed with his friends and they tried to escape together. How he had to leave them behind in an air pocket, promising to get help. And how, when he escaped, he told Paria where they were and that they were waiting to be rescued. Hours later, it's over.

[Jerome Lynch]

I want to extend our thanks. It has, I'm sure, been difficult for you. Thank you very much for coming and.

[Isabelle Stanley]

You'Re free to go. Christopher leaves the room. He's done. But the inquiry is far from over. And before they can get to the question on everyone's minds, why weren't those men rescued? They have to answer another question, one that's almost been forgotten in the public outcry. Why were those men sucked into the pipe in the first place?

[Andrew]

Where is the plug? The plug that he had there, the big balloon.

[Isabelle Stanley]

That's Icon. He was called as an expert witness at the inquiry to answer that question. I mean, and what's this black stuff on it? Is that oil?

[Andrew]

This is just the material that's a kind of reinforced rubber.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Zaid's an engineer by training, but he now has the rather ominous title of Failure analysis Consultant. Earlier this year, he took us to his warehouse in the heart of San Fernando to show us what looks like an enormous rubbery balloon, about 4ft long. It's the inflatable plug that was fixed into the underwater pipe that the divers were repairing.

[Andrew]

This is the top of it. They have to pressurize it and it swells out and seals the inside of the vibe. Right.

[Isabelle Stanley]

On the day of the tragedy, one of the men's final tasks was to remove the inflatable plug from the pipeline. But when they started to deflate it, to take it out, it was sucked into the pipe and they were pulled in with it. Yeah, I mean, it's horrible to see this. That's the thing that then got sucked in and they got sucked in after that.

[Andrew]

That's. That was ahead of all the guys. I took this to the commissioner inquiry and, yeah, we demonstrated it right there. So everybody knew and saw it what it looked like, because I was demonstrating.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Across the courtyard from the outbuilding. Back in his office, I sat down with Zayd.

[Andrew]

My terms of reference was just to say, hey, what caused the accident? What triggered this damn thing?

[Isabelle Stanley]

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the public had no idea why the men were sucked into the pipe in the first place. Local journalists consulted ship tracking agencies to see if a passing boat could have created a big wave that washed the men in. Others wondered if someone had opened a valve somewhere which set off a chain reaction. But as Zayd quickly discovered, it was no freak accident. The first thing would be really helpful to know is what is a delta P and how did it impact the divers in this accident?

[Andrew]

A delta P is by the term implies a differential pressure P pressure. Delta is a change, a difference in pressure.

[Isabelle Stanley]

After weeks of research, Zayd concluded the men were sucked into the pipe because of something called a delta P. That's the technical term for when two neighbouring spaces have different pressures. In this case, the underwater room the men were working in, the habitat had to be pumped full of air to keep the water out and to let them breathe. That made the habitat a high pressure space while the pipe was at a much lower pressure. The difference in pressure wasn't a problem because the two spaces were kept separated by the inflatable plug, the one we just saw in the outbuilding.

[Andrew]

That inflatable plug was holding for the entire two week, three weeks. The pressure was holding because the inflatable plug did not move and pressure was on top. The plug and the plug was still.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Holding, but then they removed the plug.

[Andrew]

Inside the chamber, the men work is at a higher pressure than inside the line. So things will flow from a high pressure to a low pressure. When it became loose enough, it just pushed the whole thing down and the pressure on top here just push Everything go. And what happened is the water from the sea, you have a whole big sea of water trying to fill up this little gap. You have an endless supply of water just full up the habitat and went inside the pipe and sucked everybody in.

[Isabelle Stanley]

When the plug came out, the difference in pressure kicked in instantly. Air from the high pressure habitat surged into the lower pressure pipe, creating a powerful suction. It pulled seawater up into the habitat and then down through the pipe, dragging the men with it.

[Andrew]

Comes like if water is going down in a sink and the men would have experienced tremendous pressure force then to swirl them around inside it. And the what? The water will be spinning like that going on and the men will be all moving her, you know what I mean?

[Isabelle Stanley]

I had never heard of a Delta PE before this story, but any professional diver would have. It's one of the most common causes of diving deaths around the world. So it's hard to understand, given we know the divers were highly experienced and that they were doing routine maintenance, how they fell prey to such a well known risk.

[Andrew]

This represents the ocean and that is the habitat there, that's the compressor that is pumping air inside.

[Isabelle Stanley]

To explain exactly what happened, Zaid took us to his garage to show us a model of the pipe that he painstakingly recreated in a fish tank. It's the same one he took with him to the inquiry three years ago.

[Andrew]

Okay, so first of all, they would. The line is filled with liquid. They will empty the line. He was saying, I only taken out liquid up.

[Isabelle Stanley]

The pipe the men were repairing was meant to be almost completely full of oil. If that had been the case, then even with the pressure difference between the habitat and the pipe, nothing would have been sucked in because there would have been no empty space for the air or seawater to rush into.

[Andrew]

If you see the pipe is filled with oil or water and you just have a little bit of air when you break the plug until the pressure will just equalize itself and there'll be no place for water to flow to create the flow inside and pull it up.

[Isabelle Stanley]

But what the divers didn't know is that weeks before a mistake had been made. Almost all the oil had been removed from the pipe. This meant that when the men took out the plug, there was a big void, a sort of vacuum that all of the air and seawater could rush.

[Andrew]

Into once the line was emptied. They created that situation and they would have. It had to be activated by the process they were going. They created the Delta P and they had the balloon inside there waiting. Anytime you disturb that Balloon boss. It created a Delta P event and.

[Isabelle Stanley]

It'S basically at that point a Delta trap.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Death trap. Yeah.

[Isabelle Stanley]

The month before the accident, the contractor the divers worked for, LMCs had emptied the pipe under the supervision of Paria.

[Andrew]

Paria gave the OK to empty the line, but they'll use LMC as to do it. The same contractor, he's mobilized, they would use the same guy.

[Isabelle Stanley]

At the inquiry, Paria and LMCS said they planned to take out just enough oil so that only the section of pipe that needed replacing was empty. But they took out far more than they intended. LMCS said they didn't realise how much oil they had taken out because it was Pariah's job to keep track of what was coming out of the pipe into a tank on land. And LMCS said when they asked, Paria told them it was just a negligible amount. So they kept going. The inquiry concluded both Paria and LMCS should have been aware of how much oil had been removed. It was a shared responsibility. And if they had realized that they had created this void, what could they have done?

[Andrew]

They could have mitigated that by changing the methodology with respect to removal of the plug.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Even so, the inquiry's main criticism of the two companies was that neither of them had accounted for the danger of a Delta P in their risk assessments for the job.

[Jerome Lynch]

It seemed to me that that is a cardinal error that no one gave proper consideration to.

[Isabelle Stanley]

In fact, Jerome found no mention of the risk in either Paria or LMCS's documentation.

[Jerome Lynch]

And when you think of how many people that passed through so called experts in the field, I just don't understand how they. No one actually considered that it never appeared on any piece of paper in advance of this enterprise taking place. It just never appeared.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Despite the shared responsibility, Jerome's findings were particularly upsetting for one man.

[Andrew]

I was informed at about 3 o'.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Clock that the divers were missing.

[Andrew]

I went out onto the barge by about quarter past three. Then we assumed that everything was sucked into the pipeline.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Cazim Ali Sr. Known as Kaz, the owner of LMCS and the father of one of the divers, Kaz Jr. 10 months after his son died, Kaz had to go to the inquiry in Port of Spain and defend his and his company's actions to essentially be grilled over whether he inadvertently played a role in his son's death.

[Andrew]

Now I saw in your witness statement you said you had you personally supervise the line operation, the line clearing operation. Well, the final pictures. Yeah. Okay.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Kaz was questioned for a day. He reiterated that Parrier was in charge of monitoring the oil coming out and added that when LMCs checked the pipe just before installing the inflatable plug, it was still almost full.

[Andrew]

It was full. It was full, yeah. Yeah. We check the knowledge at the rise.

[Isabelle Stanley]

At number 6 ullage is the level of the oil in the pipe. Kaz says he checked it at birth six.

[Andrew]

But when you check the ullage at riser number six. Yeah. You didn't know if there was air on any there or more oil. You couldn't tell it in the riser there was oil and. And you check that with your naked eyes. With naked eye and with a tip. And with a tip.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Kaz said that's why LMCs did not include a Delta P scenario in their risk assessments because they thought the pipe was full and therefore that the risk had been eliminated. He wondered, in hindsight, if the pipe could have been undulating rather than perfectly flat and that could be why it looked full despite there being a void hidden somewhere inside. Or if the conditions in the pipe could have changed in the 10 days between them installing the plug and taking it out. When I met Kaz earlier this year, those days he spent at the inquiry were hard for him to talk about.

[Andrew]

Well, the only time I get emotional when I'm talking about Kaz.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Yeah, I'm okay that I'm not in.

[Andrew]

There, but otherwise they know that I'm a high tide.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Yeah. Kaz's wife, Catherine, was at the inquiry supporting her husband and grieving her son. How did you feel watching? I mean, obviously you. You loved them both so much. It must have been incredibly difficult watching Kaz having to go and answer all these questions. It was, it was really. It was. It was soul destroying. It was such a deep pain. At one point I said, give it to me, put it on my shoulders. He really can't take anymore. And I got a ferocious migraine. Yes, I thought it was. I thought he was being shredded by the lawyer from the other side. And I felt that very deeply. I felt that in my soul. The inquiry concluded the accident was caused by Both Paria and LMCS's failure to recognize the risk of a Delta P. And once that was done, it left one glaring question. The truth is, regardless of why it happened in the first place, the men all survived being sucked into the pipe at the inquiry. The GoPro footage had already proved it. And that gave new life to what Christopher and the families had been asking all along. If they were alive, why Weren't they rescued? Only Paria could answer that.

[Jerome Lynch]

If you like this episode, we think you'll love this.

[David Patrick Arakos]

I'm David Patrick Arakos and on this week's episode of Apocalypse now, we look at Operation Spiderweb, the dazzling Ukrainian assault 8,000 kilometers into Russian territory. And we talk about drone safaris in which Russian forces are now hunting humans as people hunt animals. Listen to Apocalypse now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jerome Lynch]

If you like this episode, we think you'll love this.

[Bryony]

This week on the Life of Bryony, what would you do if you lost your voice completely? Talking was extremely hard. That's exactly what happened to Delta Goodrum. And in this episode she opens up about the cancer diagnosis that stopped her world at 18. Plus the long painful road to finding herself again off stage and out of the spotlight. Right now we're having more fun than we ever have in my life. I think you let go of thinking how anything should be available to watch and listen. Now on the Life of Bryony.

[Colin Piper]

I, Colin Piper, solemnly swear. Solemnly swear that the evidence that the evidence.

[Isabelle Stanley]

That's Colin Piper, Parry's incident commander, the same man Andy tracked down to his large gated house in San Fernando.

[Colin Piper]

Truth shall be the truth.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Of all the para officials who speak at the inquiry, he's the star witness. He's the man who was in charge on the day of the tragedy. He's called to give evidence on the 10th day. He's in his 60s, dressed in a suit and a bright green tie with an expensive looking watch on his wrist. Last episode we heard LMCs and volunteer divers stories of how their desperate attempts to rescue the men were repeatedly blocked by Paria. We heard how the armed Coast Guard arrived to secure the site and the men's families and friends told us how they were left to wait in a car park with no food, water or information for days while their loved ones were trapped deep underwater. In his witness statement and over his two days at the inquiry, Colin Piper talks through his actions and he starts to explain why he and Paria made the decisions they did. Piper tells the commission he found out about the accident at 10 past 3 and made it to Paria at 5pm.

[Colin Piper]

I've never had an experience like this before before, right? So for me I in the discussions I at, at that point in time, right, Remember at this time I am mobilizing my team. We don't know what is happening.

[Isabelle Stanley]

He says he wasn't certain where the missing men were until Christopher escaped at 5:45pm up until that Point he thought they might have been swept out to se.

[Colin Piper]

I was just trying to get my thoughts together to get down there and to mobilize people. It was not specific to if the men were in the pipeline. I had no confirmation. I did not know.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Once he knew the men were in the pipe, he says he decided it was too dangerous to let anyone else risk going in.

[Colin Piper]

But this was a confined space inside a 30 inch pipeline, the conditions of which we did not know. But we knew it had oil in the pipeline. Right. We did not know if that pipeline was stable. Right. It is based on that that Pariah could not sanction somebody going into that pipeline. That was a dangerous, extremely dangerous space.

[Isabelle Stanley]

He says that's why he banned Michael Kirban and the other volunteers from diving into the pike at about 6:30, just as they were preparing to launch their third rescue attempt.

[Colin Piper]

In an emergency response, the worst thing you can do in an emergency response is to act, is to act instinctively and to act emotionally.

[Isabelle Stanley]

He claims they were too emotional and that they were becoming hostile to the ParisTaff on birth six.

[Colin Piper]

And definitely in this case, you don't respond like that in an emergency. And therefore I had no choice but to say stop. We need to assess, we need to understand what is going on. So I took that decision. As difficult as that decision was.

[Isabelle Stanley]

He says, that's why after talking to Pariah's general manager, Mushtaq Mohammed, they asked the Coast Guard to secure the site and to stop anyone from going into the pipe. Meanwhile, Piper claims he was taking advice from expert divers on the risks of a rescue and was focused on finding a camera to assess the conditions inside. But Jerome found Peiper did not speak to one waiting professional until after 9:30pm While another dive company waited eight hours, hours with no one from Paria speaking to them at all. And as we heard last episode, the first camera didn't go into the pipe until midnight, almost nine hours after the men were sucked in.

[Andrew]

Did it occur to you you could send a diver tethered with surface air, with video, audio and everything to go.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Down into the pipe to see if.

[Andrew]

He could locate the divers?

[Isabelle Stanley]

Throughout his whole testimony, Piper stays calm until this moment when he's pressed on his decision to wait for a camera.

[Colin Piper]

Put yourself in that position on that night, put yourself in that position on that evening when you have to make a decision, decision to send a man into a pipeline a quarter of a mile long, you are accountable for this man. And if you believe in this room, that that was a simple thing because we had four men in that pipe. If you believe that I just sat there and decided I'm just not sending a man in a pipe. Right. You simply do not understand what we went through that night.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Piper's passionate speech is live streamed to the country. But it does little to quell the family's fury or the wider uproar. His answers validate what we heard from Ronald and Michael who were at birth six in the aftermath of the accident. Accident Paria banned LMCs from diving into the pipe. They asked the Coast Guard to secure the site and they delayed for hours waiting for a camera. Onlookers are furious at their clear inaction on the day.

[Christopher Boodram]

Piper watched the whole world inquiry and said that at the time that was the best decision because he didn't want to risk nobody else life.

[Isabelle Stanley]

That's Christopher.

[Christopher Boodram]

That wasn't the best decision. That's the best decision for his company and he to do because it had divers. They was willing to risk their life to go in. They didn't wanted any payment, they didn't wanted any compensation, they didn't wanted anything. All Ali had to say.

[Andrew]

Well, all right, go ahead.

[Isabelle Stanley]

The string of other Paria officials who speak only make it worse.

[Andrew]

Based on the information provided by LMCs, Paria focused on see and search. Let me explain a little bit.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Michael Wee is Paria's technical maintenance manager. He acted as logistics chief during the incident. When he speaks at the inquiry, he also claims it wasn't safe for anyone else to dive into the pipe. But then he goes one step further. How would you rate the management of the incident on the 25th that caused four men to perish? How would you rate yourselves?

[Colin Piper]

The chairman we do not have all evening.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Please take your seat for water.

[Andrew]

I would rate it as excellent.

[Colin Piper]

Thank you very much.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Four men died on an incident that you were to manage and you consider that excellent. Thank you very much.

[Jerome Lynch]

And it was just took people's breath away.

[Isabelle Stanley]

His response has stayed with Jerome to this day.

[Jerome Lynch]

I mean it was just an unbelievable moment in which somebody who was responsible for trying to rescue these men had completely failed to understand that what he had achieved was nothing. And I think at that, in a way it was almost that moment that told you everything you needed to know about the attitude that the management of Paria had taken.

[Isabelle Stanley]

But Jerome didn't just blame Piper or we. He holds everyone in positions of responsibility at Paria on the day accountable.

[Jerome Lynch]

If I thought it lay with one person and there was a time when I was considering whether it did lie with One person and Colin Piper. But in the end I was persuaded that it was a failure of a whole series of people.

[Isabelle Stanley]

Despite Parry's explanations, their lack of urgency, their failure to act and their obstruction of others attempts to do so still frustrates him to this day.

[Jerome Lynch]

I have a certain sympathy with an approach in which the company might have taken time to justify risking anybody going into that pipe or whatever it is that they might have done in order to try and rescue when they didn't even know, 100% sure that they were in there and didn't know if they were alive but were paralyzed. I think they just didn't expect anything like this to happen. They were completely paralyzed. And it was in one sense easier to do nothing than to risk anybody else's life. They were those who were prepared to risk their lives in order to rescue them, not least those who were related to them. I struggle to understand it to today, I just. I do. I just don't get it why you wouldn't have facilitated a way in which something could be done. And to me it is unforgivable that no real attempt was made to rescue those men.

[Andrew]

That.

[Isabelle Stanley]

When Jerome finished his report almost a year after the inquiry started, it was over 300 pages long and concluded with 52 recommendations. He found that the root cause of the tragedy was Paria and LMCs failing to recognize the risk of a Delta P incident incident. And as a result he concluded that Both Paria and LMCs were in potential breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. But he reserved his most damning judgment for Paria. He found that they effectively prevented LMCS from trying to rescue the men. He found their actions on that day could be characterized as gross negligence. And because of that, he recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions consider charging Paria with corporate manslaughter. That should have been the end of it. Next time on Pipeline.

[Christopher Boodram]

The inquiry was a waste of time. Also, millions of dollars were spent on the inquiry.

[Andrew]

Right?

[Christopher Boodram]

But it was clear to see that the government just used that as a puppy show to tell the nation that we're doing something because the inquiry findings, none of that was implemented.

[Isabelle Stanley]

That commission inquiry was designed to be a political plaster on a social wound that was festering and they couldn't amputate. Nothing will come out of it. That person is a friend of the Prime Minister.

[Christopher Boodram]

But that person unfortunately is not friend.

[Isabelle Stanley]

With the competence required to do that job. That's the qualification that qualifies him.

[Christopher Boodram]

Never work in the industry.

[Isabelle Stanley]

The other one.

[Christopher Boodram]

He too never set foot. He never worked.

[Isabelle Stanley]

He don't know what. If oil is dripping from his crankcase of his vehicle, he cannot recognize that. We contacted Paria, Colin Piper, Michael Wee and Rhoda Barros. They did not provide a comment. The Coast Guard also did not respond to our request for comment. However, their position at the inquiry was that they never used force to ban anyone from entering the pipe. Jerome concluded that their armed presence at the berth may have have acted as a deterrent even if they did not point their guns at anyone. Pipeline is presented by me, Isabel Stanley. This produced by Bella Soames. Sound design is by John Scott, additional reporting by Andy Ehring. Additional production by John Rogers and our executive producer is Jamie.

[Jerome Lynch]

If you like this episode, we think you'll love this.

[David Patrick Arakos]

I'm David Patrick Arakos, and on this week's episode of Apocalypse now, we look at Operation Spiderweb, the dazzling Ukrainian assault 8,000 kilometers into Russia territory. And we talk about drone safaris in which Russian forces are now hunting humans as people hunt animals. Listen to Apocalypse now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jerome Lynch]

If you like this episode, we think you'll love this.

[Bryony]

This week on the Life of Bryony, what would you do if you lost your voice completely? Talking was extremely hard. That's exactly what happened to Delta Goodrum. And in this episode she opens up about the cancer diagnosis that stopped her world at 18, plus the long, painful road to finding herself again off stage and out of the spotlight. Right now we're having more fun than we ever have in my life. I think you let go of thinking how anything should be available to watch and listen. Now on the Life of Bryony.