Costa Concordia, Sewol accident reminds us more actions needed
More than 330 people died in the Costa Concordia (Italy) and Sewol (South Korea) disasters. Now the maritime industry has come together to improve search and rescue efforts.
Sea transportation remains a safe way to travel and ship goods, but these events reinforce the fact that one can’t rehearse too much when it comes to search and rescue (SAR) operations.
The Spanish Maritime Safety Agency has taken the lead on this with its large- scale SAR exercise planned for 15th June 2015. This event was preceded by a table top exercise in the Jovellanos Centre, Gijón, in October last year.
The real exercise will take place in Valencia, and it will simulate a fire caused by a mechanical failure on a large passenger vessel with thousands of people
on-board.
The goal of this mass rescue operation exercise is to reveal any shortcomings that may exist in the present SAR procedures. The results will be used as a base for improvements.
Also, in conjunction with its large-scalerescue training in Valencia this summer, the Spanish Maritime Safety Agency will also perform a land-based exercise for mass evacuation.
The critical scenario planned involves 500 passengers in desperate need of evacuation from a cruise liner while in port. The exercise will test the current applicable contingency plans of the different safety management agencies involved in such an event.
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MONALISA 2.0 is a European-wide Maritime project, including 39 partners from 10 countries. The partnership is a collaboration between the private, public and academic sectors and is co-financed by the European Union. The total project budget is EUR 24 million. The project was formally approved and signed on November 5, 2013 and will operate until the end of 2015. For more information on the project visit: www.monalisaproject.eu Also view related video. |
Source: MONALISA 2.0 News
