Coastguard winch operator celebrates 40 years of saving lives

Kieran Murray, celebrates 40 years in total of Search and Rescue this month at his home base of Shetland.

Senior winch operator Murray joined Bristows in July 1979 who at the time held the contract for the supply of search and rescue (SAR) helicopters to the Coastguard after after " 10 years as a Search & Rescue diver in the Royal Navy serving at Lee on Solent and Portland when they were Royal Navy SAR bases and on the aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal, HMS Hermes and HMS Bulwark.

During his time on HMS Hermes, Prince Charles was with 845 Squadron. Kieran flew with Prince Charles both from the ship and in Canada. In more recent times he moved to CHC who took over the Coastguard contract in 2007.

CHC's UK SAR manager Ian McLuskie said: "Kieran is one of the most respected figures in search and rescue work after three decades of dedicated and courageous duty. He is an outstanding role model for all those entering the profession and our congratulations to him on reaching this remarkable career milestone."

Kieran has been involved in very many incidents around the Islands memorably, the loss of the fish factory vessel the ‘Lunokhods’.

Mr Murray said “We airlifted all of the crew members to safety after their anchor got caught up in a storm and the vessel hit rocks. At one point we managed to get 33 people in the back of a Sikorsky 61 helicopter. It was a UK record, if not a world record at the time, for the largest number of people rescued in an airlift and we won the American Rescue Crew of the Year award. “

That November saw Kieran and his crew rescue 109 persons from 4 separate callouts, the fishing vessels Glenmore and the Crusader including the Klondykers `Lunokhods’ and ‘Brodinskoye’.

“Although I enjoyed flying in itself, there is something a lot more rewarding about doing a job when you know it can make the difference between life and death.”

Joining the Royal Navy at the age of 15 in 1964, he worked in the catering division before going on to train as a ship’s diver. After working his way up to become a Navy search and rescue diver, he left the service in 1979 to join Bristow Helicopters.

Kieran has been involved in the rescue of 1073 people and assisted with 4909 people with jobs as small as a person on an inflatable lilo to the recovery of persons from oil platforms. His total helicopter flying hours which cover training and call outs - 8470hrs.

And there is another Murray behind him. Kieran’s son, also called Kieran has joined the same Search and Rescue flight as a pilot!