GUO YANG 179

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Tanker chief honored for Exceptional Bravery at Sea

The 2022 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea has been presented to Mr. Bo Xu, the Chinese chief officer of the 'Jian Qiao 502', now sailing as 'Guo Yang 179', who selflessly jumped from his oil tanker into freezing seas off northern China to save two castaways of the 'Tian Feng 369' who were clinging to a life raft. Mr. Bo Xu was honoured during the annual IMO Award ceremony on Nov 2, 2022. Mr. Xu was recognised for his courage in the morning of Dec 12, 2021, when he acted spontaneously during a search for survivors from the sinking ship 30 miles northeast of Zhifu Bay in northern China,after the 'Tian Feng 369' had got caught in bad weather and heavy seas, flooded and began to sink. The 'Jian Qiao 502', en route to Port of Dongguan, immediately changed course to assist the vessel. After searching for survivors for one and a half hours, chief officer Bo Xu spotted two survivors on a life raft which was filled with water and was drifting. The tanker headed towards the raft, but the crew soon realised the two survivors were too weak to tie a rope securely around themselves. Without hesitating, Mr. Xu jumped into the freezing waters and swam hard towards the raft, battling high waves and strong currents. After several attempts he reached the raft, hauled himself onto it and secured the rescue ropes to both survivors. With the help of other crew members on board the Jian Qiao 502, they were then successfully transferred to the deck of the tanker. Back on board his ship, the chief officer promptly performed emergency resuscitation on both survivors, despite the fatigue and cold he was himself suffering. One of the crew rescued survived. The second, sadly, passed away due to hypothermia.