Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 17
Trend:
A headquarters has been created at the national center for control over ship traffic of Azerbaijan’s State Marine Administration in connection with the accident that took place Dec. 15 at the oil-gathering station #3 of the Oil and Gas Production Department named after N. Narimanov of Azneft Production Union, said a joint statement of press services of the Defense Ministry, Ministry of Emergency Situations, State Border Service, State Marine Administration, state oil company SOCAR and Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC.
It was decided at the meeting with the participation of officials of the above-mentioned structures.
The meeting was held at the Ministry of Emergency Situations in order to accelerate the search for people, who are missing as a result of the accident, to widen the search area, as well as to enhance coordination between the state structures involved in the search operations in line with instructions of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
On Dec. 16, 2016, President Aliyev gave instructions to the heads of relevant structures on urgent search for oilmen who went missing as a result of the accident in the Caspian Sea.
The accident took place at about 05:00 (UTC/GMT+4), on Dec. 15, due to strong wind, which blew away a part of a flyover of a 150-meter long oil-gathering station. A board attached to the flyover and a booth on it were also blown away.
According to preliminary reports, five people, who were on duty at the gathering station, and five people, who were in the booth, are missing.
The body of Ilham Gafarov, who is one of the missing oilmen, was found at about 14:00 (UTC/GMT+4) on Dec. 15.
A special group has been created to investigate the accident.
The newly created headquarters regularly communicates with all the vessels sailed in the territory of the accident, including foreign vessels, as well as with relevant national centers of the Caspian littoral states.
The public will be regularly informed about the ongoing activities of the headquarters.