Tag Archives: emergency

Mudslide blocks Russia-Georgia trade routes

JUNE 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A major mudslide has blocked one of the most important trade routes between Georgia and Russia for more than a week, media reported. The mudslide on June 23 at the Upper Lars checkpoint is especially important for Armenia. It is the only major route linking Russia and Armenia. Armenia is largely reliant on goods being imported in from Russia. It has decent relations with Iran to the south but poor relations with neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkey.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Blast at an oil storage kills seven in Turkmenistan

JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A blast at an oil storage facility in Turkmenbashi in western Turkmenistan killed seven people, local media reported. A government official later denied the report but it would be unusual for a report of this nature to be erroneous. If it is confirmed, the incident will be a blow to the reputation of Turkmenistan’s main Caspian Sea port.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

EgyptAir bomb threat plane diverts to Uzbekistan

JUNE 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An EgyptAir passenger plane flying to Beijing from Cairo diverted to Urgench airport in western Uzbekistan after Egyptian authorities received information that a bomb had been planted on the plane. The plane was evacuated and searched before being allowed to fly on to China after the Uzbek authorities gave the all-clear.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Azerbaijani cargo plane crashes

MAY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – An Antonov-12 cargo plane operated by Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines crashed on take-off at Dwyer airport in south Afghanistan on Wednesday evening, media reported. Seven of the nine crew members were killed in the crash. The authorities later identified the dead as the Uzbek pilot, five Azerbaijani crew members and one Ukrainian technician. Two Ukrainians survived.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Turkmenistan returns body

APRIL 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan returned the body of one of the workers from an Azerbaijani oil rig who had been swept away in a storm in December. Around three dozen people were killed when the storm smashed into oil rigs in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in the world’s worst off-shore oil rig accident for two decades. Many of the bodies have been carried by currents across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 278, published on April 29 2016)

Oil Tanker catches fire in Azerbaijan-Turkmen Caspian Sea sector

APRIL 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A crew member died after a Russian oil tanker caught fire in the southern section of the Caspian Sea, between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Coastal guards from the three littoral countries joined forces to extinguish the fire and rescue the rest of the crew. The tanker was not carrying oil at the time of the accident. Last December, a fire at offshore oil and gas platforms killed more than 30 Azerbaijani workers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 278, published on April 29 2016)

Fire destroys Kazakhstan’s Abu Dhabi Plaza

APRIL 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A fire at the Abu Dhabi Plaza, an 88- storey tower being built in central Astana, destroyed five of its floors. No-one was injured. Fires have hit the building several times this year. UAE investors are funding the $1.6b tower which was expected to be finished this year and will be the tallest in Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Kazakh plane crash-lands

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Bek Air Fokker plane carrying 116 passengers crash-landed at Astana airport, raising safety and security concerns for Kazakh aviation. Pilot Dmitri Rodin was hailed a hero after he performed a near textbook crash-landing after his front landing gear failed to engage as he approached Astana airport. Everybody aboard emerged unscathed from the crash.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Short-circuit triggers Tbilisi cathedral fire

MARCH 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A short-circuit appears to have triggered a large fire at the Sameba cathedral in Georgia’s capital. The fire spread across 1,200 square metres and it took several hours for the Tbilisi fire department to extinguish it. The Sameba cathedral is the world’s third-tallest Eastern Orthodox church. No-one was reported as injured.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Tajik town renames itself Rakhmonabod after Pres. Rakhmon

MARCH 3 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s senate approved a request from a small town in the east of the country to be renamed Rakhmonabod, after President Emomali Rakhmon, as a thank you for his prompt aid after a flood in 2015. Villagers of Pitovdasht, in the mountainous Gorno-Badakhsan region, officially applied for the name change last September.

Residents said they wanted this to be a symbol of gratitude for Mr Rakhmon, president of Tajikistan since the mid-1990s, who fulfilled his promise of building 82 new homes after the flooding.

In July 2015, the region was hit hard by floods after glaciers melted and over 10,000 people had to be resettled.

Observers have said the town’s name change lies somewhere between genuine gratitude and the president’s cult of personality.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)