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   This was SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev’s answer to the question by BHOS fourth year Petroleum Engineering student Gulnar Huseynli who asked about his hardest moments offshore during the meeting held with prospective petroleum engineers on the eve of Feb.2, the Youth Day. “I used to supervise the repair operations when working at block # 10 at 28 May Petroleum Department. Once at 6 am in February morning, I was monitoring the site to be repaired. Suddenly, I slipped on the pipe, caught hold of it quickly and crawling 10 meters for half an hour on the pipe with giant waves underneath, I could finally reached the area. My whole life passed through my mind like a movie”.

 

“Another accident happened in 1994 during an explosion on the gas pipe on the Oil Rocks. I was a senior engineer and we were repairing the pipe. We drifted the ships in order to minimize the wave power, to ease the work for Yuri Kudryakov, the fitter. But it was very difficult to struggle against the power of nature. All of a sudden, he was hit by the waves and knocked off down into the sea. You should have been there to understand what I was feeling during those moments. I was going to take off my coat and jump into the sea to try to save him, but my friends pulled me back and a miracle happened. I saw Kudryakov’s hand pointing out over the waves and we pulled him up. We chafed his numbed body with alcohol to make him recover. We could not save him, if he remained in the water for more than four minutes in such weather. In fact, jumping into the water was an end for me, too. However, courage and bravery are the most important traits the sea requires.

 

I still cannot forget about the accident of Dec.4, because I knew personally most of the workers on that platform. I still hear their voices. It was hard. It was really too hard... Can you imagine, you hear their call for help, but there is nothing you can do for them. The ships could not approach the rig... One even got damaged... We did not manage to save them. As if the nature was demonstrating its power to all of us... In fact, all the relevant health and security regulations have been applied. The work outdoor was prohibited and that is why only Bakhtiyar, who went out to monitor the site, got certain burn injuries. Otherwise, all of them would be injured” Mr. Abdullayev commented.