>Press Releases Home > Publications and press releases > Press Releases Search and rescue drill at cruise ship A fire broke out in the engine room of a super cruise ship on its way to Hong Kong today (Friday). A crewmember who suffered severe burns was airlifted to hospital while other passengers were evacuated to safety in the quickest way. This was the mock scenario for the annual maritime search and rescue drill co-ordinated by the Marine Department's Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) today. The exercise, code-named "SAREX -01" was also participated by three other Government departments including the Government Flying Service, the Marine Police and the Fire Services Department. Assistance from Star Cruises, which sent the "Superstar Leo" to take part, was essential to make the exercise a success. Elaborating on the background to the exercise, Senior Marine Officer, Mr. K W Chan, said:"Since cruisers are becoming popular among holiday makers, there are needs to maintain a high public safety standard on board these vessels." Today's exercise was meant to familiarise the related parties with the existing crisis management tools in the event of an incident, Mr Chan added. "Besides, the exercise also aims to test the alerting and communication efficiency of the MRCC with the cruise ship at risk as well as other related Government departments in case of emergencies. The effectiveness of the evacuation of passengers and the related contingency plans were also examined during the exercise," he said. During the exercise, the MRCC mounted a search and rescue operation soon after a report on a blaze in the engine room of the cruise ship was received. Fireboats and police launches were tasked to the scene immediately. While the on scene firemen and fireboats were fighting the blaze, lifeboats and an escape chute were displayed to evacuate passengers and crewmembers. A crewmember, who was found to have suffered severe burns, was rescued from the engine room and airlifted to hospital for treatment. The exercise involved deployment of one helicopter, two police launches, two fireboats, seven lifeboats, three teams of fire-fighters with breathing apparatus and more than 500 staff members from the participating bodies. The exercise was successfully completed in about one and a half hours. Being one of the world's most reputed maritime search and rescue agencies operating round the clock, the Marine Department's MRCC is equipped with the most advanced technology to deal with any emergencies or distress situations. It is responsible for co-ordinating all available resources to perform search and rescue missions in the international waters of the South China Sea North of Latitude 10 degree North and West of Longitude 120 degree East. In the first nine months of this year, a total of 103 people were rescued in 61 search and rescue operations co-ordinated by the MRCC. Friday, October 12, 2001
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