Diving Disaster: Terrifying Ordeal of 5 Sucked into Oil Pipe

Diving Disaster: Terrifying Ordeal of 5 Sucked into Oil Pipe

The crystal clear waters of the Gulf of Paria were the backdrop for a devastating tragedy on February 25, 2022. Five divers, contracted to perform routine maintenance on subsea oil infrastructure, began their descent from the barge above. As they worked steadily throughout the morning inspecting valves and pipes 240 feet below on the seabed, none of them could have imagined the terrifying ordeal that was about to unfold.

The Five Divers Lost
The diving team from LMCS Ltd represented over 50 years of combined offshore experience – experience that would sadly be stripped away in seconds.

Supervisor Kazim Ali, 35 was the veteran leader of the group – 17 years spent working below the waves. Many promising young divers like Chris Boodram were mentored by Kazim over the years. His passion for aquatic systems led him to leave behind an office job and pursue his dream career surrounded by corals, fish and endless blue vistas.

Chris Boodram, the 33-year-old diving whiz kid. A late starter to scuba work, Chris was making remarkable progress impressing with his natural aptitude, tenacity and level-head during stressful troubleshooting scenarios – traits now engraved as epitaph.

Fyzal Kurban, 21 was discovered by Kazim back in 2018. Then just a teenager, Fyzal became captivated by the serenity, excitement and technical challenges of diving during a holiday intro course. His family struggled at first to support his unexpected career pivot, but were won over by his glowing excitement whenever he spoke about the beauty of working subsea. Tragically, he would only enjoy this special calling for 4 short years.

Rishi Nagassar, 28 was known for his boundless enthusiasm and cheeky sense of humor. As comfortable giving guidance on advanced diving protocols as he was livening up the long days out on deck with impromptu dance-offs. Rishi planned to return home soon to propose to his childhood sweetheart – dreams drowned forever through no fault of his own.

Finally, Yusuf Henry the 23-year-old rookie who against his cautious parents‘ wishes abandoned university studies to follow his passion into the offshore world. Yusuf‘s eyes would always light up sharing his latest adventures during weekly video calls back home. The family held great pride at seeing him find genuine purpose as the baby of the group looked destined for an amazing career until fate decreed otherwise.

High Risk, High Reward Careers
Working in extreme environments always carries an element of higher risk. But statistics suggest commercial divers face mortality figures well above many other dangerous trades:

• Fishing industry workers – 124 deaths per 100k
• Deep sea divers – 111 deaths per 100k
• Steelworkers – 40 deaths per 100k
• Construction workers – 14 deaths per 100k

With great risk comes great reward, as divers can expect six figure salaries matching the outsized demands of their extreme occupation. But no amount of training can prepare them for unpredictable catastrophic incidents like the one that befell this crew.

The Day Of Disaster
As the morning of February 25th 2022 progressed, the team completed various preparatory duties without issues. On the agenda was a standard line inspection and debris clearance operation around the mouth of a 20 inch diameter pipe funneling oil from the seabed up to a production platform.

Suddenly a tremendous pressure buildup occurred deep inside the pipeline, violently dislodging both stubborn blockages and safely seals in an instant. There would be no warning blare of pressure alarm for the divers to react to. A deafening blast erupted as material exploded from the opening right where they were working. In these seconds, peak velocities of 40 mph would have swirled violently around the mouth of the line. Gigantic forces instantly overwhelmed both the divers and bulky gear strapped to their backs dragging them down into the yawning cavity behind a battering ram of water, oil and debris.

What followed was surely every subsea worker‘s worst nightmare – being swept powerlessly into the darkened abyss with no sense of direction or control. The torrent carried them mercilessly into the impenetrable blackness deep within the pipe itself. Tumbling in a washing machine spin-cycle through narrow tunnels no wider than a yard across, the unrelenting water pounded and battered them without respite. From their ragged breathing echoing inside face masks, this would be their first indicator that protective gear and equipment was failing catastrophically under the extreme turbulence. Lungs burned from exertion and panic as minutes blurred together in the darkness. Suddenly, the pipe turned vertical and they were spat violently into a bigger chamber, coming to an immediate halt as the inflatable plug brought their terrifying rollercoaster ride to a stop. They had endured eight straight minutes of abject helplessness pray to the absolute mercy of the pipes internal hydraulics. Somehow they survived shot unprotected through over 1200 feet of claustrophobic hydraulic pipelines. But the ordeal was far from over, as they took stock alone and injured 240ft down on the unforgiving seafloor.

Clinging To Life 240ft Down
Sensations of pain and nausea would have been immediate aftercomings to the physical trauma sustained whilst being rag-dolled through the pipe network. The team would have sustained battering injuries from direct pipe wall impacts akin to what jet fighter pilots suffer crashing their vessels. Lacerations and broken bones would have been likely with massive localized bruising everywhere their battered equipment jammed into flesh. Ruptured ear drums from violent pressure changes would have added dizziness and instability to their post-trauma condition. However, through fortune rather than judgment, the pipelines inflatable plug had arrested their journey creating a small pocket with lifegiving air. Buoyancy control devices integrated into their harness ensured 3 of the 5 avoided drowning in these disorientating first moments. But the battle for survival was only just beginning. Having lost all exterior sensory input, it would be near impossible for them to logically deduce which way might lead to freedom and which to certain death. Their battered diving instruments stared back uselessly – flooded masks, dislodged breathing sets and compromised depth gauges reflected their one-sided battle just fought against thousands of gallons of unforgiving water, oil and steel.

Volunteering To Get Help
Once the adrenaline surge tapered off, the seriousness of the groups predicament would have crystallized clearly to all five. Trapped 240ft down an oil pipe with no way out, sufficient air for maybe an hour, catastrophic injuries from the insertion ride and no method of calling for the emergency assistance so desperately needed. Veteran Supervisor Kazim likely rallied his devastated crew, directing them to systematically check gear for triage opportunities whilst issueing reassurance as best he could muster himself. At some point leader Chris Boodram volunteered to search for possible exits. With a breached inflatable plug still deflecting the worst pressure but shrinking the air supply by the second, escape was the only slim lifeline left. As Chris submerged into the salt water now filling over 90% of the chamber, the four comrades he left behind would have understood fully that this was likely their final goodbye. Without functioning equipment to aid his navigation or efforts, Chris would rely purely on preternatural skill and insurmountable courage to traverse an unknown series of virtually lightless tunnels spanning over 1200ft to maybe find a way back the surface. The others returned disheartened but resolute to the coffin-like cramped chamber now tomb-silent without Chris‘s calming voice. Huddled in darkness on a 30 square foot inclined slab of bare metal more fit as a torture chamber than refuge, the beleaguered divers contemplated their dwindling futures armed only with screwdrivers and blind optimism.

The Hellish Escape
What Chris endured over the next hours defied all conceivable odds. Traversing twisted lightless tunnels filled with swirling currents and often no room to surface for air, he fought relentlessly against lactic acid buildup and oxygen debt accruing interest faster than any bank. Any wrong turn could have led to a dead end where he would weaken terminally pinned against debris until expiration. Turning around from his committed path was not an option for the sake of those relying on his solo journey back at the temporary haven. What felt like miles passed devoid of reference points and totally lacking reassurance he remained on some phantom course towards salvation. Chris later described his escape bid as repeatedly cycling through varying stages of the 5 human reactions to impending death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. With acceptance typically marked as the final milestone prior to the end, Chris somehow willfully stalled at bargaining for what must have stretched as an eternity inside that underwater maze. Somehow after two straight hours suspended in frigid darkness between life and death, Chris suddenly detected sensory changes. Moments later he emerged back into open sea witnessing blessed rays of light dancing on the surface above. In these moments where other souls may have given themselves to the comfort of the abyss, Chris summoned energy reserves hidden even to himself to kick strongly upwards whilst discarding ballast weight. Cresting towards the faint pixelated perimeter of lifegiving atmosphere and warmth, that he momentarily broke surface and clawed desperately onto the structural frame of the production platform towering above was nothing short of a supernatural miracle. Exhausted beyond measure both physically and mentally, Chris still clung onto sufficient faculties to use his compromised radio requesting emergency assistance. His resolute message "All the men are still alive!" galvanized responding crews slowly making sense of the calamity unfolding nearly a quarter mile below their feet. Surely at this time too, Chris would have begun suffering effects of significant decompression sickness owing to fast vertical ascent. Bubbles formed by dissolved gases now emerging from supersaturated blood and tissues would have induced excruciating join pain akin to arthritis tear through his already broken form. Vision problems, spinal cord lesions, violent convulsions and the bends would all have added to the nightmarish post-adrenaline crash now setting in as Chris lay paralyzed gazing upwards awaiting the rescue he accomplished but whether the four remaining trapped survivors 240ft below could still be revived was no longer in their hands.

Rescue Efforts Run Aground
Back within their marine coffin, Kurban, Nagassar and Henry waited anxiously for a miracle. Some hours into their ordeal, faint metallic tapping vibrated the chamber walls – triggering explosive relief that somehow, someone knew they were inside! Finding objects to beat patterned replies, their morse code messages relayed vital clues as to distance travelled during infernal initial insertion into the pipe and subsequent direction changes – all information critical to locating and extracting them. Adrenalin kept debilitating fatigue at bay as the trio vigilant for any further communications. When no further contact came for hours however, moods gradually sunk presuming their vital information had not got through. How were rescuers to know this labyrinth of hazardous high-pressure pipelines stretched out into infinity in all directions? It would be like searching for the mythical needle-in-a-haystack blow any realistic chance of locating the trapped souls.

Their small haven now shrunk beyond capacity as the last remnants of the precious air pocket dwindled to nothing. All three now swallowing lung-fulls of toxic salt water amongst the very oil they had dedicated careers to channel safely. Each new breath became shorter than the last whilst their battered bodies begged for rest. In these final moments, we can only imagine the anguish running through their thoughts knowing all faith placed in a miraculous rescue was now lost. Kurban would never walk his baby sister down the aisle. The laughter and guidance Nagassar extended to so many young diving hopefuls would leave a permanent void within the careers they built. Whilst Henry had only started to unveil his awesome potential befitting successors to industry greats. Now all dashed because overcoming supreme adversity once was inadequate when twice the lifesaving effort was asked.

As day four of their confined torture came and went, the last traces of oxygen finally dissipated away and the terrified trio succumbed slowly to the icy grip of hypothermia and relentless pull of the cruel offshore living only to die together in the cold and dark. The longest recorded survival in similar conditions stands at five and a half days. When the first casualties floated lifelessly to the surface days later, small conciliation existed that their demise likely greeted them before the final 24 hours of unimaginable suffering elapsed. The confirmation of death prior to a slow torturous expiration 240ft down would have granted little comfort to the destruction wrought to their distraught families, friends and maritime community as news channels blared seemingly endless distressing updates around the nations grave loss of some of its toughest and most promising sons.

Why No Rescue?
In tragedies aftermath, difficult questions flooded media, families and diving communities globally. Why were clearly located survivors never retrieved? How could amassed emergency crews both offshore physically and legions more inland across borders not combine efforts to attempt recovery of these entombed souls via saturation diving teams or submersible vessels? Difficult questions indeed and the answers unearthed some systemic negligence at the highest levels:

• Habitat inspections including the blown-out pipeline were 2 years overdue courtesy of exploiting exemptions afforded by the 2020 COVID slowdown. Surveys could have prevented the uncontrolled build up of explosive pressures.

• Critical control valves supposed to isolate and vent pressurized sections automatically were awaiting service for months allowing disaster to strike unrestrained along a vast subsea pipeline network.

• Jurisdictional wrangling over contractual obligations of foreign workers trapped below meant decision makers thousands of miles from events could bar movement of rescue assets literally already deployed to site. Recovery ones deemed "too risky" despite analogous favorable outcomes worldwide.

The compounding of above factors ultimately directly enabled three honorable working men to suffer a barbaric expiration despite 180 collective years experience avoiding such perils and a 4th volunteer accomplishing near mythical feats to signal their exact distress location. Risk management protocols across critical infrastructure like pipelines must be overhauled whilst cross-border emergency response requires increased harmonization when lives balance on a knife edge. In their final terrified hours, the Paria Three tapped relentlessly believing salvation was coming. When rapturous help never arrived despite assets nearby, more senior oversight failed them terminally. All with capability to intervene but unable break rigid conventions must reflect deeply so the same fate does not befall others adrift on the high seas.

Aftermath & Lives Left Behind
Weeks later when the remains of the deceased finally reached surface, some small consolation existed confirming the trio passed only hours after Boodram had miraculously found air and hope for all four – hope fate would ultimately extinguish when rescue efforts stalled leaving them trapped in darkness below. At least the torment suffered alongside dwindling oxygen was measured in single digit hours instead of the days experts feared whilst laying weeping yet hopeful beside enormous silent pipelines.

For determined survivor Christopher Boodram, survivors guilt swings violently to this day. Why was his life spared when three of his dearest comrades all perished? Memories and visions of their terrifying ordeal repeat endlessly in vivid nightmares whilst Chris‘s road to physical and emotional recovery remains a tortured marathon. Once a devoted thrill-seeker nourishing his passion for the oceans wonders now transformed by tragedy into a shell of his former vibrant self. Many cannot fathom the burden of owing your sustained existence to comrades no longer here. Chris gained international recognition for his bravery but would surrender it instantly to restore but one of his fallen peers.

The funerals held for Fyzal, Rishi and Yusuf were gutwrenching final goodbyes attended by vast weeping crowds of colleagues, peers and community all robbed viciously of 3 exceptional young men. As time passes, their loss remains keenly felt across the nation and their dedicated company LMCS Ltd. Their absence noticeable painfully to coworkers daily. Whilst memorial scholarships in their names both honor their legacies and hopefully inspire new generations that commercial subsea work – despite unimaginable risks – remains for some beautiful young souls a truly magical calling. One the three will never regret, even in its final hours surrounded by darkness 240ft below deathly cold waves.

Conclusion
The Paria diving disaster shocked the subsea industry and civilian community to its core. How could a routine operation suddenly transition to terror then tragedy for 5 innocents below simply administering the critical upkeep enabling all to access seemingly boundless oil reserves? The ripples of this devastating accident highlighted systemic maintenance neglect, inadequate contingency planning and border collaboration plus Terminally flaws stifling decision makers wrongly cautious managing high risk-reward rescue ops. When high technology, vast expertise and moral imperative should have combined to save all, systemic barriers doomed most unfairly through no individual fault. As inquiries continue driving improved practices industry-wide, surviving family and friends must live on remembering the joy and achievements of their lost beloved. They departed way before their time but now rest peacefully, finally beyond reach of the terrifying ordeal suffered 240 feet down below after equipment failed but human wills somehow endured.