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The Caspian search ends at 14 dead and 3 rescued as five officers are detained, the Navy’s chief of staff among them

The defence ministry found the last two of the missing at about 09:15 on Friday, Sergeant Mansur Gumarov and Seaman Miras Turdybekuly, and declared the search over: of the 17 servicemen swept into the sea on Thursday during the Khazar Korgany-2026 exercise, 14 are dead and 3 were rescued. By early afternoon the interior ministry said five officials of the defence ministry were in the temporary detention facility of the Aktau police as suspects, the chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Naval Forces, two commanders of military units, the commander of a marine infantry company and the commander of the patrol boat Qaisar, from which the men were disembarking 43 km from Aktau in adverse weather.

By CAW Staff25 September 2026
An empty pebble shore under a flat grey sky with a calm sea to the horizon and a single amber life ring lying on the stones near the water.

The ministry’s statement, carried by Arnapress at 11:07, put the finds at “about 09:15 in the course of continuous search and rescue work” and repeated its cause, “a sudden and sharp deterioration of the weather”. The count it closed on reconciles with Thursday evening’s revision, 17 swept away, 3 rescued, 14 dead, and with the morning’s 12 dead and 2 sought. 12 became 14 in a morning.

The interior ministry’s account, published by Zakon at 13:28 and Forbes Kazakhstan at 13:41, names the boat and the place: the patrol boat Qaisar, 43 km from Aktau, a disembarkation “under unfavourable meteorological conditions”. The five are held over the alleged negligent attitude to service and violation of the rules of navigation with grave consequences, the offences on which the General Prosecutor’s office opened its case under article 453 part 2 and article 465 of the Criminal Code, and none of the five is named in the statements. Newtimes at 14:28 quoted the same source: “law enforcement is establishing an additional circle of persons who may be subject to detention”.

12 became 14 in a morning.

The General Prosecutor’s office, in the version Azattyq Asia and Arnapress carried, has “established officials suspected of a negligent attitude to service, and of failing to ensure control and the necessary measures for the safety of personnel with regard to the meteorological conditions”. The statements of the day name the boat and the distance from shore and leave the exercise’s own status unaddressed.

Friday was the national day of mourning Tokayev ordered on Thursday evening, and the Kazakhstan-China Investment Forum in Almaty opened with a minute of silence for the dead before the president spoke. The exercise, Khazar Korgany-2026, had begun on 22 September with more than 500 personnel under the Navy’s commander, Captain 1st Rank Kanat Niyazbayev; Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev’s government commission was formed on Thursday. Thursday’s count of 19 swept away and 9 dead became 17 and 12 by the evening and 17 and 14 by Friday noon.

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