Manager of Trinidad's state-owned fuel company sued over diver deaths

On September 12, 2024, news from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Managers of Paria Fuel Trading Company, a subsidiary of Trinidad Petroleum Holdings, a state-owned fuel trading company in Trinidad and Tobago, face 15 charges related to the deaths of four divers in 2022.

In 2022, four divers were trapped in a pipeline while repairing it and died unfortunately. On Wednesday, two senior managers of Paria Fuel Trading Company pleaded not guilty to charges of violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The director of Land and Sea Contracting Services Limited, which was hired by the company to repair the pipeline, has also been sued, and the director's son died in this incident. The charges brought include failure to properly assess risks and failure to prepare and revise emergency plans.

Earlier this year, a government investigation recommended that prosecutors bring corporate manslaughter charges against the company, saying it had “little or no attempt to rescue” the divers. A fifth diver survived and recounted the ordeal.

These deaths have sparked outrage among people in this twin-island nation in the eastern Caribbean. While the families of the victims are waiting for the results of lawsuits alleging negligence, they are demanding proper compensation. A hearing in this case is scheduled for mid-January next year.