The establishment of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) upon a decree signed in 2005 by President Ilham Aliyev, who is successfully pursuing the policy of Heydar Aliyev, an architect of independent Azerbaijan, and a number of important security and rescue agencies being subsumed under the ministry was a major step toward protecting people's lives and the people and states’ property from natural and anthropogenic disasters, said Minister of Emergency Situations, Colonel General Kamaladdin Heydarov.

Axar.az reports citing APA.

He made the remarks on Thursday at a meeting dedicated to the 12th anniversary of the establishment of MES.

Heydarov said that the dead bodies of 90 people were removed from deformed vehicles and flats this year.

“During the reporting period, MES rescuers saved the lives of 145 who faced the risk of drowning in controlled beach waters and 151 in uncontrolled non-beach areas. The bodies of 47 people who drowned in uncontrolled non-beach areas were brought ashore and handed over. No one drowned in controlled beach waters,” he added.