Around 200 members of the fire service, ambulance service and civil defence carried out a drill off the coast of Ribnitz-Damgarten in the middle of last week to practise the rescue and care of passengers on a burning passenger ship. The scenario took place on the water near Pütnitz: a fire on board, numerous casualties and a ‘mass casualty incident’ required a coordinated rescue chain from the ship, via the handover points, to the emergency services on shore.
In addition to the volunteer fire brigades, the civil protection unit of the Vorpommern-Rügen district, ambulance crews, helicopter crews, professional divers and other specialist units were involved. A command centre coordinated the operation. Drones were also deployed. The exercise was designed not only to simulate the rescue of the passengers, but above all to demonstrate whether communication, equipment and responsibilities function effectively under time pressure.
Exercises reveal shortcomings
This also revealed a specific shortcoming: initially, there were no suitable hoses available for fire-fighting in the engine room, and these had to be ordered as a matter of urgency. According to the NDR The situation will be assessed over the next few days. It is precisely such insights that demonstrate the practical value of a large-scale exercise.
At the same time, the multi-day SAREx exercise organised by the DGzRS began. SAREx stands for Search and Rescue Exercise. Nine rescue units from the maritime rescue service, two government vessels, a search and rescue helicopter from the Naval Air Corps and a rescue helicopter from NHC Northern Helicopter took part. In addition, there were vessels simulating people in distress in specific scenarios. In total, around 100 sea rescue personnel were involved.
Four-day sea rescue exercise off Eckernförde
The focus was on typical but challenging operations at sea: searching for missing persons, rescuing shipwrecked people, providing first aid to the injured and securing damaged vessels. During the biannual SAREx exercises, the crews are only made aware of the emergency situations once the simulated alarm is triggered. As in a real emergency, they must therefore first assess the information, coordinate search areas and resources, and organise medical care. Actors playing the injured, from the Emergency Training Group of I.S.A.R. Germany, ensured realistic injury patterns and operational scenarios.
The main exercises off Eckernförde ran until Saturday 19 September. Emergency procedures are also being practised in the Port of Hamburg. The civil-military exercise will begin there on 24 September “Red Storm Charlie”.
Book recommendation
Medicine at Sea focuses on the medical aspects of emergencies on board. Among other things, the book explains how to provide first aid in cases of loss of consciousness, bleeding, drowning and burns, as well as how to prepare the on-board first-aid kit.
The pros practise emergency scenarios regularly. Do you? For example, man-overboard manoeuvres, rescuing fellow sailors who have fallen overboard, or looking after injured or hypothermic fellow sailors. Let us know in the comments.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
