Sucked Into an Oil Pipe - The Paria Diving Incident

On February 25 of 2022, a team of five divers were tasked with maintenance work on a dormant underwater pipeline in Trinidad and Tobago. The five divers ended up being sucked into the narrow oil pipe. Four of the five divers never returned.

The GoPro camera which was attached to one of the divers recorded the moment disaster struck.

#disaster #survival #gopro

CREDITS:

[alxio]

This story is blowing up now. It happened in my home country and no justice has been served, all rescue attempts were stopped and those guys were basically left to die then got flushed out of there. An official enquiry took place and nothing resulted. Any questions should be directed to Colin Piper, Port Operations Superintendent of Paria fuel who claims alot of "tough decisions" were made that day.

[daviddd-]

I can’t believe that the people making the decision to NOT send a rescue team aren’t being held accountable.

[lociflow]

The fact that this didn't end up on national news just shows you that they rather protect the rich man instead of the hard workers that's suffered that day

[JerseyJester]

"nobody was making an attempt to rescue That man's testimony is absolutely heartbreaking.

[Brandon-ffmy]

Its horrific how they handled it. No emergency services, no attempts made, nothing. They were even more worried about liability than helping them and wouldnt let the family try help either.

[MicheleELL]

The way Chris says “I failed them” just is absolutely gut wrenching. He is a hero and people should be put in jail over this horrible negligence!!

[Itsme-ceod]

The way Chris composed himself and asked how they all were and gave his friends hope of survival was only through pure strength and faith. An absolutely heartbreaking tragedy.

[mirllewist]

12:12 when he says “I failed them” my heart shattered. This story is unbelievably tragic when you realize that they COULD have and SHOULD have been saved. If it wasn’t for corporate greed and seeking money above everything else these brave men would have been home with their families right now. Christopher Boodram did not fail his men, he went above and beyond to try and save their lives. The company failed them.

[abdulaleem]

Here are some additional facts:
1) They were in there for 4 days and on the 3rd day people were still hearing banging on the pipe
2) Paria got the coast guard to stop divers from rescuing the men trapped
3) There were multiple divers ready and willing to go in from lmcs and rescue that same hour but were all blocked from going in
4) Paria said the coast guard would be doing the rescue but the coast guard said they had no equipment
5) The families of all the divers sat in the refinery carpark for 4 days waiting to hear news about their loved ones and the company couldn't even give them some water to drink, it was community members who brought food and water for the families
6) They left those men in there to die and when 4 days had passed and they were sure they were dead they flushed the bodies out the pipe as quickly as possible; this damaged the bodies and flooded any air bubbles remaining so if the men were alive by then the flushing operation probably killed them
7) The bodies were retrieved in secret, placed in boxes to disguise them and then snuck out via a back entrance, while the family members were left waiting
8) The families were never informed that the men had died or that bodies had been retrieved; they found out via a television news program
9) No one from Paria ever met with the families at any point, they were just outright ignored
10) When questioned in the commission of inquiry it was revealed that no rescue plan was ever made; they simply sat and waited for the men to die
11) Paria had the pipeline capped off on both ends so no one else could escape.
12) Chris tried to check himself out of the hospital but was restrained and forcefully sedated on the orders of Paria who feared he was planning on mounting his own rogue rescue operation (he later confirmed he was)
13) No arrests were ever made or charges filed and no one was fired or at least suspended from the company for the failing
14) Not a single cent was paid to any family yet
15) No new security measures or operational protocols were ever implemented or existing ones updated to prevent something similar from happening; indeed, Paria never even promised or announced plans to make any changes of any kind whatsoever (the remaining and new divers that were brought in were simply told to be more careful and that it was responsibility to prevent accidents of any kind)
16) When first informed of the accident, the first thing that Paria managers asked was how much downtime there would be; this was their first and only concern
17) Paria resumed operations the very next day after the bodies were retrieved (although the company wanted to resume work the very same day but it was nighttime already); this included the pipeline where the accident occurred which was put back in use the next day as well (in fact, 5 minutes before they started using it again they flushed one last time: Bits of diving suits and human tissue were still inside and once they came out of the pipe they were simply discarded in the ocean)
18) The company has an extensive history of corruption: Its managers are in bed with the government and they use the company to do underhand business so they can steal tax money. The company was originally called Petrotin until a scandal involving the prime minister who was found to be selling the oil illegally on the side using a friend as a straw man; to avoid jail they closed the company down and started 5 new companies from it Paria being one of them. Furthermore, local rumors have always swirled around claiming that the government is doing oil deals with Venezuela secretly to avoid sanctions as Maduro and The TT prime minister Rowley are apparently good friends and if the divers had survived the spotlight would be placed on the company which would also face legal actions from these men (dead men can't sue you or go public with what they know), thus making it much harder to do their corrupt deals so they were left to die and the government-run company got away with it with no consequences.

[mattrobinson]

This is the scariest thing I can imagine. Chris really showed his character, in that recording. Kept his mind together, thinking first about his crew. Exemplary leadership, in an impossible circumstance.

It’s disgusting that Paria left those men down there to die. They deserved better.

[justicewillprevail]

This should've made national news. I can't believe no one tried to rescue them. This is criminal.

[my_name_is_chef]

Hearing chris organize everyone after getting pulled into the pipe shows you how much he cares for his colleagues. Unimaginable horror and one of the first things he does is role call.

[AtariBorn]

Chris is a hero, forced to break a promise because he couldn't convince evil people to show compassion for human life. Godspeed Chris.

[wickermind]

Considering how little Paria did to save them, I have this sinking feeling that if Chris never made it out, nobody would ever know about this from the company hiding everything.

[stunter]

After doing some reading, it's been over a year since since this happened and Chris is struggling severely, mentally and financially and the company has done ZERO to help his family while he hasn't been able to work.Chris didn't do anything wrong but trying to live with the experience he went through is a whole different hell I'm sure.

[blakefowler]

Is there a GoFundMe for Chris? I’d legit contribute to that. Poor guy. True leader and pure character right there.

[CADinitials]

It's such a cruel irony that the other guys told Chris to go forward, even though he was saying to go backwards. But Chris listened to them and survived. They were right saved him in a way and yet, they all died.

[jessegullette]

Man it’s crazy how calm they sounded in pitch black when they realized they were inside the pipe. RIP to the ones who didn’t make it. My heart goes out to them and their families.

[lioneagle]

The last words of Chris saying "I failed them" hit me hard, you can hear the pain in his voice as if he is reliving the situation. You didn't fail them brother, you did everything in your power to save them. You are a hero, that monster of a oil company is the one who failed them. May they rest in peace.

[rynoX]

I will never forget about this story. I like to click on other YouTubers uploads for other perspectives from time to time. Only a few stories stick with me and this was always one of them.