Brave Bulgarian Captain Awarded for Saving 116 Lives

Relatives and friends (R) talk to survivors from the sunken ferry MV Rabaul Queen through a chain link fence inside the compound of Lae`s Disaster Managment centre in Lae, Papua New Guinea, 04 February 2012.

Vladimir Gargov, the Bulgarian sea captain who rescued116 people in the beginning of February, was officially awarded by Bulgaria's Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski on Tuesday.

38-year-old Vladimir Gargov was the captain of a cargo ship which first responded to a distress alert.on February 02 when the MV Rabaul Queen ferry sank off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

The distressed vessel foundered some16 kilometers off the coast at Cape Fortification, near Finschhafen.

Gargov's vessel, MOL Summer, managed to rescue 116 survivors. A total of 243 people were plucked from the ocean alive by the first five vessels which arrived.

The search-and-rescue operation was conducted with eight ships and three helicopters.

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