Before he climbed atop a 120-foot oil tank at Trinmar Tank Farm on Saturday, Point Fortin resident Curtis Pierre said goodbye to his nine-year-old daughter and showed her a cut throat signs. Relatives said they didn’t take it seriously because Pierre, 43, had done that several times before.
According to reports, Pierre, scaled a fence at the back of Petrotrin’s Reid Road compound shortly after 11 am Saturday. He climbed onto the stairway leading to the top of the tank and threatened to jump. His family and ex-wife were at the facility trying to persuade him to go home with them but, according to the police, he only made a request for food.
For nine hours, counsellors from Petrotrin’s Employee Assistance Programme tried to dissuade him from jumping. However, the energy company’s corporate communications manager, Gillian Friday, said that despite all efforts, at around 8 pm, it was observed the Pierre was no longer visible on the tank. He was believed to have entered a vent hatch atop the tank.
Petrotrin personnel began recovery efforts yesterday, which included extraction the oil from #7 wash tank containing approximately 65,000 barrels of condensate, for an internal examination of the tank. Friday said it could take a few days to complete the process. Up to late yesterday evening, the tank was still being drained to determine whether or not Pierre had jumped into the tank.
Pierre was not an employee of Petrotrin. He lived in an abandoned house in the Housing Development Authority’s La Fortune community. A relative said Pierre had been suffering from a mental illness for the past two years and had even broken apart his former family home and set it on fire. Relatives said they were not sure what triggered him off on Saturday morning.
Counsellors remained at the location to support employees who witnessed Saturday’s ordeal, as well as Pierre’s family.