NE NEWS SERVICE
GOA, MARCH 7
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) conducted a three-day National Maritime Search and Rescue Workshop and Exercise-2020 (SAREX-20) from Thursday to Saturday (March 5-7) at Goa which saw the participation of 24 overseas partners from 19 countries, a Defence release said.
Dr. Ajay Kumar, IAS, Secretary (Defence), Ministry of Defence, inaugurated SAREX-20. This is for the first time the three pillars of national SAR mechanism – Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Defence, took part in SAREX-20 which had the theme of Harmonization of Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue code-named ‘HAMSAR’. SAREX-20 witnessed the largest ever participation from international delegates, including 38 national observers and representatives of seven commercial airlines and two helicopter operators.
SAREX-20 included the conduct of workshop and tabletop exercise on Thursday followed by a sea exercise on Friday. SAREX exercise is being conducted biennially by Indian Coast Guard under the aegis of National Maritime Search and Rescue Board (NMSARB) since 2003 under the Chairmanship of Director General K Natarajan, Indian Coast Guard and this was the 9th edition of the series of SAREX.
The SAR Workshop and exercise focused on Mass Rescue operation (MRO) scenario consequent to the simulated ditching of a passenger aircraft at sea off Goa. During the simulated exercise mass rescue operations were demonstrated with the participation of seven ships, 10 aircraft of various resource agencies, including the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Indian Navy, Indian Air Force (IAF) and vessels from Goa port. Airport Authority of Indian (AAI), State Administration, Indian Mission Control Centre (IMCC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and various other stakeholders participated in the sea exercise along with local administration, designated hospitals, port authorities for disaster management response on a large scale.
SAREX-2020 tested the efficiency of operations and coordination of the stakeholders involved in Search and Rescue in Indian Search and Rescue Region. The proactive approach adopted on SAR particularly for ensuring the safety of fishermen and mariners at sea has yielded positive results and contributed towards growing confidence among the fishing community and the mariners. Indian Coast Guard since inception has saved 9,701 lives at sea translating to approximately more than one life being saved every second day.
https://twitter.com/IndiaCoastGuard/status/1235771046269194241
