London (People's Daily) – Xu Bo, Chinese chief officer of the oil tanker Jian Qiao 502 received the 2022 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea in London.

File photo: IMO

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) held the 2022 Awards Ceremony on Wednesday during the 106th meeting of IMO Maritime Safety Committee. IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim presented Xu Bo with the award.

In the early morning of December 12, 2021, after receiving instructions from a search and rescue center, Xu Bo led his oil tanker to search and rescue the crew of the sunken cargo ship Tian Feng 369 near Zhifu Bay in Yantai, Shandong Province.

After spotting a drifting life raft filled with seawater carrying two survivors, and realizing both were too weak to securely tie a rope to themselves, Xu Bo jumped into the freezing waters without hesitating and swam relentlessly towards the raft. He reached and pulled himself to the life raft and tied the ropes to the survivors, who were successfully transferred to the deck with the help of other crew members. On his return to the ship, the chief officer immediately performed emergency resuscitation on both survivors. Eventually, one of the rescued survived and the other, regrettably, passed away due to hypothermia.

In his acceptance speech, Xu Bo said that the award given to him by the IMO was an encouragement to him and his team, but also a recognition of China's maritime search and rescue record. "I am a seafarer and if I were to encounter such a dangerous situation again, I would still jump into the sea to save people without hesitation."

The annual award was established by the IMO to provide international recognition for those who, at the risk of losing their own life, perform acts of exceptional bravery, displaying outstanding courage in attempting to save life at sea or in attempting to prevent or mitigate damage to the marine environment. Such acts of bravery may also involve extraordinary seamanship skills in very difficult conditions or any other display of outstanding courage.

A total of 41 nominations were received for the 2022 award from 17 member states and two non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the IMO. In addition, two crews from China also received the letters of commendation from the IMO this year. They are the crew of rescue helicopter B-7309 of the Beihai Rescue Bureau, and the crew of the fishing vessel Zhe Yu Yu 82085.