41-year-old Captain Tran Van Tiep, captain of ship BP 081202 of Squadron 2 under the municipal Border Guard Command, and his comrades have made many great contributions to maintaining peace at sea through countless times participating in rescue at sea, catching smuggled ships or participating in COVID-19 prevention and control activities.

Captain Tran Van Tiep pilots a ship heading to the sea to rescue fishing boats at sea. Photo: HONG QUANG

"Let’s get ready for duty, and throw the rope to the fishing boat in distress ...", that was the order of Captain Tran Van Tiep when he piloted the ship BP 081202 to approach the fishing boat DNa 90166 in distress at sea. The officers and soldiers on board BP 081202 were also exhausted and wet with seawater, yet still tried to hold on and approach the fishermen's boat, then tossed the rope over the DNa 90166 in the middle of the sea to pull it ashore.

However, the waves were getting stronger, and the water overflowed into the engine compartment, making the two fishermen on the ship exhausted. In an instant, Captain Tran Van Tiep decided to throw the rope over to save the two fishermen and cut the rope as the boat sunk very quickly at that time. It was the ship rescue in the sea bordering Hue-Da Nang two years ago that still lingers vividly in the mind of Captain Tran Van Tiep.

Previously, the City Border Guard Command sent the ship BP 081202 led by Captain Tran Van Tiep to rescue the fishing boat DNa 90873 and 8 crew members that had drifted into the sea due to a broken engine. After a day of drifting at sea, the machine still could not operate while the weather was erratic with high winds and big waves. Thanks to the help of the ship BP 081202 of the Border Guard, the fishing boat in distress finally came ashore, and the fishermen all returned safely.

In addition, Captain Tran Van Tiep and his comrades have been always aware that combat readiness training, patrolling, law enforcement, anti-smuggling and commercial fraud at sea are important political tasks and tried their utmost to complete all of them in the best performance. With those contributions, Captain Tran Van Tiep was promoted to the military rank and raised his salary ahead of time.

As shared by Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Thuong, Politician of Border Guard Squadron 2, in the past year, the unit has organized 25 times of patrol boats to manage, protect maritime sovereignty, combat illegal entry and exit, implement COVID-19 prevention and control regulations, and fight against crime.

Moreover, dozens of officers and soldiers have performed the task of natural disaster prevention and control, search and rescue at sea, and promptly saved the lives of two fishermen and brought them safely to shore, propagandized and mobilized hundreds of fishing boats and fishermen come back to safe havens during storms, and promptly extinguished the fire of 10 fishing boats. Especially, there is a significant contribution of Captain Tran Van Tiep, captain of the BP 081202 ship, in such challenging tasks.

Far offshore, fishers' ships have continued to face waves to head to sea, where dangers have been lurking around because fishers believe that Border Guard soldiers are watching, providing timely support, and keeping the peace of the sea around the clock.

Reporting by DOAN QUANG- Translating by T.VY