29-05-2025
EXCLUSIVE PIPELINE: The Coast Guard arrived with their guns and told us not to go inside - new Mail podcast explores how oil company blocked attempts to rescue men trapped inside underwater pipe
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On the latest episode of the Mail's Pipeline podcast, reporter Isabelle Stanley investigates why efforts to rescue five men trapped in an underwater oil pipe were thwarted.
In February 2022, five divers were sucked into a 30-inch pipe they were repairing off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago.
Despite one of the divers, Christopher Boodram, escaping after an unimaginable three-hour ordeal, rescue attempts for the remaining four were repeatedly blocked, leaving them to die slowly in what became a national scandal.
Ronald Ramoutar, who was among the first on the scene, recounted his experience to Stanley on the six-part investigative podcast.
Ramoutar was an experienced diver, who headed to the site of the accident as soon as he heard what had happened. Soon after arriving, he pulled Christopher Boodram out of the pipe, where he was waiting to be rescued, having fought his way back to the surface.
The pipe was managed by Paria, one arm of Trinidad's state-owned oil company. Paria maintain it was too dangerous to send rescuers into the pipe to recover the trapped men.
'When we arrived at Berth 6, we were already in diving gear. They kept shouting at us – you do not have permission to enter the water', Ramoutar said.
I went into the water anyway. Inside the pipe, I heard a voice calling – I climbed back out and saw Christopher. We took some rope, tied some loops in it, and managed to get him to climb up it like a ladder. That's how we got him out.
'We spoke to Christopher about what happened – he confirmed everyone was still alive and that they were in an air pocket.'
Using a tapping system to communicate with the four divers still trapped underwater, Mr Ramoutar verified Christopher's story.
Along with several other volunteer divers who had also arrived at the scene, Ramoutar devised a rescue plan.
They decided that Michael Kurban, whose father was trapped inside the pipe would dive inside himself, to try and pull the others out.
The tragedy sparked a national scandal in Trinidad, and billboards demanding justice still line street corners to this day. Listen here
On his first attempt, Michael was forced to resurface, realising that his air hose, which he was breathing through, was not long enough to go around the bend in the U-shaped pipe.
'By the time Michael came up, Paria officials told us – the Coast Guard is coming to help', Ramoutar said.
'We were told to wait. We thought, 'Good – the Coast Guard has experienced divers.' They will assist us. We backed down and waited.
'They arrived and told us – we're not trained for this; we're not going down there. They wouldn't even go inside the chamber – the whole thing was a waste of time.'
Just as they were preparing to try again on their own, the Coast Guard, under Paria's orders, blocked them from staging another rescue attempt.
'They told us we cannot go', Mr Ramoutar said.
'They each had an automatic weapon.
'They said in a firm voice more than once, don't go. They kept on saying it. We decided to back down.'
Three days later, on Monday February 28th 2022, Paria began pumping out the bodies of the four divers from the pipe.
Autopsies would later reveal that one of them may have been alive in those unimaginable conditions for up to 39 hours.
To hear all the first-hand accounts from those involved in the desperate rescue effort, search for Pipeline now, wherever you get your podcasts.
