According to a case filed against TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) for negligence and indirect homicide, the corporation failed to secure the safety of subcontractors during a 2021 insurgent attack in Mozambique.
TotalEnergies denied the claims and called them “inaccurate.”
In March 2021, Islamist terrorists assaulted the port city of Palma, murdering several citizens in neighborhoods near TotalEnergies-owned Mozambique LNG infrastructure projects.
The plaintiffs, including three survivors and four kin who died in an ambush, assert that TotalEnergies did not adequately prepare for safety and evacuation procedures and failed to alert subcontractors to the dangers of potential attacks or the development of such assaults.
According to the complaint, a private security firm’s rescue aircraft had to turn back because it ran out of gasoline. TotalEnergies had turned down a request for fuel because it didn’t want to be linked with a private security business.
The claimants claimed that several subcontractors attempted to flee the hotel in a convoy of vehicles, which was subsequently attacked and left with multiple fatalities.
It’s uncommon to assume that a business will be charged with and tried for indirect manslaughter. But in this case, several carelessness led to a circumstance that permitted the loss of several lives, according to Henri Thulliez, a plaintiffs’ attorney.
“It is not alleged that TotalEnergies directly caused the deaths of victims but that the company did not act in accordance with the expected diligence standards of a professional in its responsibilities,” the attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a statement.
TotalEnergies refuted the accusations, claiming that it had a security strategy and had been followed.
“During the attack on the city of Palma, and according to the information we have, all Mozambique LNG personnel and their contractors and subcontractors were evacuated,” stated TotalEnergies.
According to the business, the Mozambique LNG group had a security plan that called for the subcontractors to take cover and be evacuated by ferry.
Before the year is up, TotalEnergies intends to continue the project in the area where security conditions have reportedly improved.
