BUE Kazakhstan a subsidiary of Topaz Energy and Marine Ltd. one of Dubai’s leading Oil & Gas and Marine services companies, was recently involved in a dramatic rescue operation of eight Azeri fishermen from a grounded vessel off the coast of Kazakhstan near Bautino.
In the early hours of the morning the BUE Kazakh vessel was alerted by distress signals emitting from a ship in their vicinity. Visibility was down to less than 100 metres and ice formations throughout the area made the search and rescue effort highly dangerous in the treacherous conditions. However it was also a race against time, the temperature, including the wind chill factor had plummeted to minus 17 degrees and the state of the stranded fishermen would deteriorate rapidly.
The determined crew of the BUE Kazakh combed the seas just off the Kazakhstan coast near Bautino and finally managed to locate the grounded fishing boat and successfully transfer all eight crew-members to the safety of the BUE vessel and subsequently took them to the Agip KCO base at nearby Bautino.
Following the successful rescue, Mr. Richard Steel, BUE Kazakhstan Operations Manager was presented with a Certificate of Commendation from the Azerbaijan Government, which he proudly accepted on behalf of the rescue crew.
Reverend Stephen Miller of the Dubai-based Mission to Seafarers’ ‘Angel Appeal’ a charitable fundraising effort to buy purpose-built fully equipped support vessel to serve stranded seafarers in the coastal waters of the UAE beamed, “It is heart-warming to hear of humanitarian acts like this. All too often commercial shipping companies don’t get the credit they deserve, Topaz is a shining example of everything that is good about caring and responsible seafaring. Our support vessel won’t be involved in dramatic search and rescue operations like the BUE Kazakh, but the bottom line is the same, to safeguard the welfare of seafarers, irrespective of race or religion”.
This was the second incident involving a BUE Kazakhstan vessel. Earlier in January one of their vessels rescued ten fishermen from an ice flow after they had abandoned their sinking craft. On this occasion the fishing boat was also salvaged by hoisting it onto the deck of the BUE Kazakh vessel.
Topaz Energy and Marine Ltd. one of Dubai’s leading Oil & Gas and Marine services companies.
