Petrotrin investigates oil rig death

JUST when the Reid family of Palo Seco was beginning to slowly but painfully accept the death of their mother, their lives were shattered on Wednesday with the death of eldest son Kevin, an employee of State-owned Petrotrin. Kevin was killed while working on an oil rig in Palo Seco. According to Petrotrin, Kevin, 25, was carrying out routine operations on Rig Number 1 in Santa Flora, when he was struck on the chest by a piece of heavy equipment. He was rushed to than Point Fortin nursing home and later transferred by ambulance to the San Fernando General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

When Newsday visited the grieving family at their Greenidge Street, Palo Seco home yesterday, Kevin’s aunt Carmen John could not hold back her tears. “He was a loving and giving child who was never rude to anyone,” she sobbed. She described the tragedy as a double blow to the family who had recently buried Kevin’s mother, Linda, 63, in September last year. Kevin’s mother, Linda, also worked at Petrotrin in the company’s Santa Flora administration offices. “I prayed for them, Kevin, his brother Cleon and his father, Kelvin, when I went to church on Old Year’s night. Look what happened to him,” John said. She said Kevin would be buried in his favourite baseball cap on a spot between his mother and grandmother at the Siparia Public Cemetary. Petrotrin has launched an investigation into the incident.