Society

Offshore search-and-rescue exercise in S China

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-28 08:41

A helicopter and rescuer hover over the water during a sea rescue drill in the South China Sea, about 30 km from Sanya, a resort city in southern China's Hainan province, May 27, 2011. [Photo by Song Guoqiang/China Daily]

SANYA, Hainan - China finished a two-day exercise in searching for and rescuing victims of disasters at sea on Friday, according to China News Agency.

The drill, which was held in the Jinmujiao Cape of Sanya city, South China's Hainan province, was aimed at making the country more successful in carrying out search-and-rescue missions.

Five patrol ships and a helicopter took part in the use of technology that can determine the location of a moving target, Hainan Daily reported on Wednesday.

The exercise was divided into two parts, consisting of a one-day search and a one-day rescue.

Because of the fast development of the sea fishing industry in China and frequent recurrences of spells of bad weather, offshore accidents have become more common. That has made it more difficult to rescue the victims of such accidents, Zhai Jiugang, an official with the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, told Hainan Daily.

The exercise is meant to strengthen cooperation among various authorities, improve a coordination system used to determine the locations of maritime emergencies and gauge the usefulness of certain technologies in determining those same locations.

At least seven typhoons are expected to hit China's coasts this year, placing great stress on the country's ability to find and rescue victims of disasters at sea, Chen Lei, minister of water resources, said in a videoconference about typhoon mitigation on Tuesday.