Indian Coast Guard holds SAREX-07 excercise
A two-day search and rescue exercise began in the Bay of Bengal off Port Blair today. Various maritime agencies including the Andaman and Nicobar UT Administration are participating in the Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX-07), being conducted by the Indian Coast Guard.
The exercise will help prepare contingency plans for quick response to tackle natural and manmade disasters like tsunami and oil spill. Increasing cargo, oil tankers and passenger liners in the sea lanes passing through Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean have posed a challenge to disaster management agencies.
The exercise will fine-tune contingency plans to test the alerting, mobilization and management of resources for search and rescue and the welfare of survivors. It will also help national and local authorities and other emergency services deal with a major maritime search and rescue operations as laid down under International Maritime Organization (IMO) guidelines. Mock missions for mass rescue and evacuation of ship will also be undertaken.
The Indian Coast Guard, which has been delegated as the coordinating agency for search and rescue missions the Indian Maritime Zone, has three Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres at Mumbai, Chennai and Port Blair besides 10 sub-centres.
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