Sascha Wil­son

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of En­er­gy Ernesto Ke­sar has con­firmed that charges have been laid un­der the Oc­cu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and Health Act in re­la­tion to the col­lapse of Rig 110.

This was dis­closed by the min­is­ter yes­ter­day when con­tact­ed by Guardian Me­dia for an up­date on the sta­tus of the in­ves­ti­ga­tion and ef­forts to re­cov­er Pe­te Phillip’s re­mains.

Phillip, 45, was among 75 per­son­nel on­board the rig, op­er­at­ed by Well Ser­vices Pe­tro­le­um Ltd, in Her­itage Off­shore East Field, when it par­tial­ly col­lapsed.

De­tails of the in­ci­dent have not been dis­closed, but Phillip was un­ac­count­ed for, and one oth­er work­er was in­jured.

Res­cue op­er­a­tions quick­ly tran­si­tioned in­to re­cov­ery ef­forts, which were halt­ed short­ly af­ter, to await the ar­rival of spe­cialised equip­ment. This equip­ment ar­rived in the coun­try re­cent­ly.

Ke­sar said he was ad­vised by Her­itage that Well Ser­vices op­er­a­tions were in full ef­fect, and hope­ful­ly with­in this week re­trieval ef­forts would re­sume.

He said he would be present, along with Her­itage and oth­er stake­hold­ers, to over­see the op­er­a­tions when they com­mence.

“They be­lieve they will be able to re­trieve the re­mains of Pe­te Phillip and it con­tin­ues to be a re­al trag­ic sit­u­a­tion, but on be­half of the Gov­ern­ment and the Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries and the Min­is­ter Dr Roodal Mooni­lal, we con­tin­ue to ex­tend con­do­lences and sup­port for the fam­i­ly,” Ke­sar said.

He con­firmed that OSH Au­thor­i­ty had com­plet­ed its in­ves­ti­ga­tion and had laid charges against the “com­pa­nies.”

“I am ad­vised that the in­ves­ti­ga­tion has been com­plet­ed on the min­istry, on the OSH side. I think it is pub­lic knowl­edge that the min­istry, through the OSH, they would have charged the com­pa­nies. That’s a mat­ter of pub­lic record...I am not sure if the mat­ter came up as yet in the court.”

How­ev­er, he was not cer­tain whether Well Ser­vices had com­plet­ed its in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

Ke­sar said the min­istry is wait­ing for the fam­i­ly to get clo­sure be­fore mak­ing fur­ther pro­nounce­ments on this mat­ter.

Phillip’s wife, Can­da­cy, how­ev­er, said she was un­aware of any charges.

In an ear­li­er in­ter­view, Can­da­cy said she, her chil­dren and in-laws were still cling­ing to hope that by De­cem­ber 22, they would get clo­sure.

She re­called that the day be­fore the in­ci­dent, she spoke to her hus­band, who was sup­posed to be home with her and their four chil­dren for Christ­mas.

Can­da­cy was then preg­nant with their fifth child, a boy, who is now nine months old. Phillip al­so had an­oth­er son, aged 19.

“The last up­date was that they were pro­tect­ing the rig, strap­ping it around, Phase One, so I am hop­ing for Phase Two to start be­fore the 22nd.”

De­spite her grief, Can­da­cy said she dec­o­rat­ed for Christ­mas and en­sured her chil­dren had gifts un­der the tree.

She said her youngest daugh­ter broke down in tears af­ter the com­pa­ny re­turned some of his be­long­ings, in­clud­ing his cov­er­all, per­son­al cards, wrist­watch, wal­let and bag, a few weeks ago.

“She came home from school and no­tice her dad­dy’s bag and re­mains from the lock­er, she start to cry. She said, ‘Where dad­dy?’ And she start­ed to scream. I had to calm her down.”

While the com­pa­ny has con­tin­ued to as­sist her fi­nan­cial­ly and has ren­o­vat­ed her home, Can­da­cy re­mains up­set over the de­lay in re­triev­ing her hus­band’s body.

She is al­so call­ing for the find­ings of the in­ves­ti­ga­tion to be dis­closed and for prop­er mea­sures to be en­forced to en­sure there is no re­cur­rence.

“My wish is to get clo­sure. Prob­a­bly on the 27th, I get a call, we move the rig, we find some­thing.”

In the mean­time, she is plan­ning to have a prayer ser­vice to mark the one-year an­niver­sary of his death.