LIFELINE April 2013 - English

LIFE LINE

April 2013

December 2010 The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) December 2010 News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development…

December 2010 In this issue:     

a new IMRF Bookshop: save 20% on IMO publications! the IMRF assists the International Committee of the Red Cross news from Bangladesh, South Africa, Kenya, Finland, and the British Virgin Islands how to eat an elephant... and more!

A challenge from the SecretaryGeneral of the IMO Addressing the last meeting of the Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue Sub-Committee (COMSAR) in January (see the February 2013 edition of LIFE LINE at www.international-maritime-rescue.org), Mr Koji Sekimizu, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (pictured), announced that “the reduction of maritime casualties by half in the foreseeable future is my target. I would like to see annual casualties reduced from the current annual loss of lives of over 1,000 toward less than 500. This needs collective efforts, not only covering international shipping but also the domestic navigation and fishing sectors.”

December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010

December After the meeting, Bruce Reid, the IMRF’s Chief Executive Officer, wrote to Mr Sekimizu, saying that “I know that I can speak for our Board of Trustees and all our Members around the world in wholeheartedly supporting your2010 intentions and work in this regard. The objects of the IMRF are ‘to prevent loss of life, to promote safety and to provide relief from disaster at sea and on inland waters throughout the world’. Clearly we share your aim, and we thank and congratulate you December for stating it and setting IMO Members and Observers this challenging but essential humanitarian target.”

2010

However, Bruce queried the figures quoted, noting that they derive only from regulated sectors where reasonably reliable statistics are available. The actual total of lives lost each year in the wider world’s waters is very much greater. Analysis December indicates that the toll may amount to several hundred thousand people annually, in all waters. And the SAR system 2010 overseen by the IMO exists to save anyone in distress at sea; not just those working in the regulated maritime sectors.

Replying, Mr Andy Winbow, IMO Assistant Secretary-General, agreed that “The role of SAR services, the completion of December the Global SAR Plan [...] and the provision of adequate resources by Governments to effect SAR operations remain 2010 priority issues for the Organization. In this context we look forward to IMRF’s contribution to the attainment of the Secretary-General’s vision through its global activity on SAR.”

December

The challenge is, in a way, the same as it has always been: reducing the number of lives lost at sea. But, whatever the 2010 numbers, Mr Sekimizu has now set a brave target; and he asks us – IMRF’s Members – to help achieve it.

We cannot, and do not, refuse the challenge. Saving lives is what we do.

December 2010

The International Maritime Rescue Federation is a registered company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom and registered as a charity in England and Wales Patron: Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, 2004-2011

December 2010

Registered office: IMRF West Quay Road Poole BH15 1HZ United Kingdom Company Registration Number: 4852596 Charity Registration Number: 1100883

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

December 2010 December

LIFE LINE

April 2013

Editorial Welcome to the April edition of your newsletter.

There’s a phrase which will probably be very familiar to many of our readers, but may baffle others! It is that ‘there’s an elephant in the room...’

It means that there’s a problem: a big problem – so big, in fact, that we would rather ignore it, pretend it isn’t there.

The phrase has been used in the context of the IMRF’s mass rescue operations project. But in the second in our Gothenburg conferences on mass rescue one of the delegates talked about elephants in another way. ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ he asked. The answer? ‘One bite at a time’.

That’s the approach being used in our developing water safety and education project (see page 8). It’s the way we are addressing the mass rescue problem too: this way, it’s not too big to tackle. It’s also the way the IMRF is addressing the wider problem of the gaps in the Global SAR Plan (see page 9). We cannot fill all those gaps overnight: the challenge is so big as to seem daunting. But – one bite at a time... *** Exciting news! The IMRF Bookshop is open for business! If you have an interest in any of the International Maritime Organization’s publications, you can now save yourself 20% by ordering through the IMRF. Read all about it on page 3. *** But there’s bad news on page 10. The Maritime Rescue Institute (MRI) at Stonehaven, Scotland, is well known in its own right – but its CEO, Ann Laing, is also the IMRF’s Membership Secretary; and Jill Greenlees and Wendy Webster, our admin team, are based there too. The MRI has had a fundamental place at the heart of our own organisation.

Now the MRI Board has decided that it has to cease operations. The terrible damage done, to buildings and equipment, by savage North Sea winter storms is too heavy a blow to recover from.

Contents A challenge from the IMO ...................

Editorial .................................

Dates for the Diary .................................

The IMRF’s new bookshop ...................

Cold water survival: a pocket guide ...

SAR in conflict .................................

Ferry safety & SAR in Bangladesh ...

Major exercise in South Africa ...

SAR Matters .................................

Member Focus: VISAR ...................

Water Safety & Education ...................

April Board meeting moves to Malta ...

Tragedy in the Gulf of Guinea ...................

Improving safety & SAR ...................

Asante sana! .................................

A casualty of the raging sea ...................

And a silver lining .................................

News from Finland .................................

One of our manikins is missing ...

World Maritime Rescue Congress ...

KEGM-7 crew honoured ...................

GISIS .................................

Send us your news & pictures ...

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Dates for the Diary Mediterranean Regional Meeting

16 April 2013

IMRF meeting hosted by The Armed Forces of Malta. For details, see page 8.

Drowning Prevention Conference

24-27 April 2013

th

The Lifesaving Foundation’s 5 annual event, in Co. Meath, Ireland.

For details, see www.lifesavingfoundation.ie/conference.

USCGA National Conference

22-25 August 2013

United States Coast Guard Auxiliary event, in San Diego, California.

See www.cgauxinternational.org for further details.

World Conference on Drowning Prevention 20-22 October 2013

We in maritime SAR work to save people from the sea; but we cannot always be successful. This time the implacable sea has defeated us, and we ourselves are the casualties.

International Life Saving event to be held in Potsdam, Germany. See www.wcdp2013.org for further details.

But we are survivors too, and will carry on. The contents of this newsletter are evidence of that.

Advance notice of the IMRF’s next Congress and quadrennial general meeting – see page 12. Further details in due course.

Dave Jardine-Smith news@international-maritimerescue.org

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

World Maritime Rescue Congress 1-4 June 2015

If you are planning a SAR event of international interest which you would like to see listed here, please send the details to: news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

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April 2013

The IMRF’s new bookshop: big savings for Members

Cold Water Survival: a pocket guide

The IMRF is pleased to be able to announce another new service for our Members!

We are now registered as a bookseller for the International Maritime Organization – the IMO, the United Nations' agency responsible for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships; and, among other things, the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue and (with the International Civil Aviation Organization) the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual.

Fine – but what does this mean in practice?

A 20% saving for IMRF Members wanting to purchase IMO publications, that’s what!

The IAMSAR Manual, for example, is the core international guidance on SAR. It is published in three volumes.

Volume I, ‘Organization and Management’, describes how to establish and run a SAR service – vital to those developing such services around the world. Volume II, ‘Mission Coordination’, assists those planning and running SAR operations and exercises. And Volume III, ‘Mobile Facilities’, is intended to be carried aboard rescue units, aircraft and vessels to help with search, rescue or on-scene coordination, as well as those aspects of SAR that pertain to their own emergencies.

To keep it up-to-date, IAMSAR is republished every three years – and the next edition is due out shortly. But it is not cheap: Volume I is priced at £25, while Volumes II & III are £50 each.

Now, however, the IMRF is able to offer our Members a substantial discount when you purchase IMO publications through the IMRF – 20% off the IMO’s list price! For the full three-volume IAMSAR Manual, that would save you £25!

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

The 2013 edition of the IAMSAR Manual is expected to be published in May, in English, with the French and Spanish versions following shortly after

And it’s not just the IAMSAR Manual, of course. The 20% discount will save you £2 per copy of the International Collision Regulations; £19 on the GMDSS Manual; £8 on Standard Marine Communication Phrases; £9.80 on the International Code of Signals; £13 on the Medical Guide for Ships...

It is a sad fact that people continue to die at sea through a lack of knowledge about what is likely to happen if they are exposed to cold water, and how to mitigate the effects of exposure. It is most important to realise that you are not helpless to affect your own survival chances.

Understanding your body’s response to cold, and simple self-help techniques, can extend your survival time, particularly if you are wearing a lifejacket.

The IMRF recently coordinated an expert group which completely revised the IMO’s guidance on the subject – see LIFE LINE, April, June & August editions, 2012. Now the IMO have republished their popular Pocket Guide on the subject. The booklet is available online, as a download, or in hard copy.

The full list of IMO publications, and the formats in which they are available, may be found at www.imo.org/Publications.

Orders made via the IMRF need to be pre-paid (including any post & packing costs). This is a new service for us, and we will refine it as time goes on.

For now, Members can use our online order form on the website (www. international-maritime-rescue.org).

Or you can email orders@ international.maritime.rescue.org.

20% savings on all IMO publications!

Formats available include e-books, e-reader files, CDs, electronic downloads – and hard copy!

To enquire and/or make an order, email: orders@internationalmaritime-rescue.org

The guide examines the hazards of exposure to the cold that may endanger life, and provides advice based on current medical and scientific opinion on how to prevent or minimize those dangers. It is intended primarily for seafarers; but will be of great help to rescuers too.

As well as survival guidance, it provides information which will help in the treatment of those rescued from cold conditions.

Like all other IMO publications, the Pocket Guide may now be purchased at a discount if you are an IMRF Member. Please see the article alongside. page 3

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SAR in conflict The IMRF are assisting the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by circulating a questionnaire on coastal rescue craft among our Members.

The ICRC, established in 1863, works worldwide to provide humanitarian help for people affected by conflict and armed violence and to promote the laws that protect victims of war.

An independent and neutral organization, its mandate stems essentially from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, it is financed mainly by voluntary donations from governments and from national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

The ICRC are updating their commentaries on the Geneva Conventions. This guidance, dating back to the 1950s, includes an interpretation of the articles dealing with coastal rescue craft in case of armed conflict. The ICRC have asked for the IMRF's help in collecting information for the update.

If you are an IMRF Member, your organisation will by now have received a copy of the questionnaire.

Please do take the time to complete it, even if, happily, you do not operate in a likely conflict zone.

Your responses will give the ICRC a better understanding of the way in which coastal rescue craft would operate in case of an armed conflict.

This will improve the quality of the update – to the potential benefit of SAR people worldwide. www.international-maritime-rescue.org

April 2013

Ferry safety & SAR in Bangladesh In early February the small ferry Sarosh capsized in the Megna River, near the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, after being in collision with another vessel, carrying sand. It was initially unclear how many people were aboard: estimates ranged from 60 to 100. 23 people were rescued, or were able to swim ashore. 14 bodies were recovered.

Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh – a delta country of 153 million people – and scores of people are killed every year. Such incidents are often blamed on overcrowding and poor quality of the boats used, which are the main form of travel in some rural parts of the country.

In March last year over a hundred people died when a ferry on the wide and fast-moving Meghna River collided with an oil tanker and sank.

Interferry, our partner organisation at the IMO, represents the worldwide ferry industry. They are undertaking a joint initiative with the IMO to improve the shocking safety record of domestic ferry operations in developing nations. They report that a pilot project arranged in Bangladesh achieved some modest success in the areas of crew training, hazardous weather reporting and the development of an electronic database of vessels. But much remains to be done.

Ferry Safety Information-Sharing Forums have also been held in South East Asia and the South Pacific.

These events all indicate that one of the most difficult problems is the lack of safe, affordable ferries.

Building on this experience, the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) organises an annual student competition for the design of safe,

affordable ferries to serve developing nations. Designs should accord with the specifications of a particular emerging-market nation. This year that nation is Bangladesh.

WFSA’s Executive Director, Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, explains that: “We decided to emulate design studios addressing other developing world problems and thereby unleash innovation for all. In addition to generating new designs, another goal is to let the maritime community know about the opportunities in emerging markets.”

Anyone interested in the competition should email the WFSA at ferrysafety@gmail.com. But hurry!

Registration closes 1 April 2013, with st submissions due by June 1 . For more information on Interferry’s project, visit www.interferry.com/ ferry_safety_project.

The connection between improved ferry safety – indeed; improved maritime safety as a whole – and improved SAR capability is a clear one. We all want to save lives at sea, whether by accident prevention or by efficient response; and a drive to do this in a particular country or region should be holistic. Anything that improves safety is to be encouraged – but we know too that accidents will still happen, and people need to be ready to respond to them.

To this end the IMRF is working with the Bangladeshi authorities on the preparation of a mass rescue workshop, as an evolving part of our MRO project. page 4

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April 2013

facilities, a media center, and a refreshment center. Cape Town Sports Stadium was taken under command by Disaster Management to act as a secure zone for sorting and treating casualties and to brief victims and relatives.

The first patients and survivors, as well as the ship’s manifest, were brought ashore by Sea Rescue craft at 0950. Disaster Management administrative staff began to establish the number of passengers and crew on board as well as the casualties’ nationality. The media and foreign consulates were briefed by the JOCC media representatives at regular intervals.

Major exercise in South Africa IMRF Member the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI)’s Andrew Ingram writes:

A major sea rescue exercise, ‘Operation Beachy’, took th place on Tuesday 12 March at Mouille Point in Table Bay, organized by the City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management team. It was a resounding success.

One of the largest exercises ever to take place in South African waters, Operation Beachy involved 300 people, 101 of them as ‘casualties.’ The exercise started at 0915 when a “cruise ship” (actually the South African Navy frigate SAS Spioenkop) reported to Cape Town Port Control that she had run aground. Her crew were fighting a blaze on board and the ship was listing badly.

A search had begun for passengers unaccounted for and possibly lost overboard. South African Air Force 22 Squadron helicopters arrived on-scene to take critically injured patients off the ship and to search for survivors in the sea. NSRI rescue crews were deployed from the helicopters to help prepare casualties for winching.

Treatment of injured passengers and crew took place on the shore at Mouille Point and at the Cape Town Stadium.

Ambulances transferred the injured to local hospitals.

Customs officials dealt with clearing passengers entering our country, social services assisted with trauma counselling, the Department of Environmental Affairs cleaned up the “pollution spill,” the Department of International Relations and Cooperation assisted with foreign affairs matters, Foreign Consulates dealt with their

The Transnet National Ports Authority Harbour Master assumed command of what was rapidly escalating into a multi emergency services mass casualty rescue operation. A JOCC (Joint Operations Control Centre) was established at the Port Control Tower in Table Bay, where emergency service representatives gathered to coordinate the ‘rescue operation’.

The NSRI’s Table Bay, Bakoven, Melkbosstrand, and Hout Bay rescue craft, Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services, the Western Cape Government Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) were all activated. Firefighters and EMS paramedics and rescue technicians were dispatched to accompany sea rescue boats. The Skymed rescue helicopter, Law Enforcement Marine Division rescue craft, SAPS Sea Borderline and Dive Unit craft, an EMS rescue craft and Transnet tugs also responded.

The first Sea Rescue craft to arrive at the casualty ship assumed on-scene command and firefighters, paramedics and NSRI rescue teams were put aboard the vessel to fight the fire, search for and free entrapped crew and passengers, and medically triage and treat the injured.

They were asked to rapidly evacuate a ship that “may capsize at any moment.”

While this was underway a full scale shore emergency services contingent responded to the Mouille Point Lighthouse. Roads leading to the scene were closed to the public and the area was cordoned off while Disaster Management and Metro EMS established an on-scene sub-JOCC, a landing zone, emergency medical treatment www.international-maritime-rescue.org

countrymen and the Forensic Pathology Services took over the care of those ‘deceased’. Throughout the exercise the Ports Authority staff maintained normal shipping operations without interruption.

Only one real casualty resulted from this exercise. One of the young volunteers suffered some emotional stress after being winched off the ship by a helicopter. She has received trauma counselling and has recovered well.

During the exercise we experienced a strange phenomenon: multiple ‘white illuminating flares’ were sighted, but a search off Robben Island found nothing. It is thought to have been a meteor shower, which was also sighted from further inland. The Astronomical Society report that this was natural for this time of year.

Brad Geyser, Sea Rescue JOCC Commander, said: “Nature threw another curve ball during the exercise: fog rolled in, although only briefly. While this hampered the exercise it also gave us a realistic challenge, as alternative arrangements had to be made for evacuating passengers when helicopters could not do that leg of the rescue in the fog. Craft that did not have navigational equipment on board had to be guided, too – but these are real obstacles we often face in real rescues,” said Brad. page 5

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SAR Matters This column provides a forum for LIFE LINE readers worldwide to contribute to debate on any relevant SAR issue. You can join in, or propose new items for discussion, by emailing news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

April 2013

a diplomatic conference in Cape Town last October – it appears that the Protocol, duly amended, may be implemented at last, if just a few more fishing States can be convinced to ratify it. Yet it will only apply to vessels of 24m length and over; and then usually only to new ones, with numerous other exemptions provided for.

Or you can join the discussion on our SAR Matters Blog, online at www.international-maritime-rescue.org.

Have a look at previous discussions on the website too, in the LIFE LINE archive.

In this edition we consider

The cost of fish The February edition of LIFE LINE noted the terrible story of several hundred tuna fishermen missing in the wake of Typhoon Pablo last December. Pablo is reportedly the strongest tropical cyclone ever to hit the southern Philippines, making landfall with winds of up to 140 knots.

By 15 December the cyclone’s known death toll had reached 1,067, mostly on Mindanao, where floods and th landslides caused major damage on the 4 . A total of 844 people were still missing, about half of them fishermen.

A Filipino fisherman: seas three storeys high were reported as Typhoon Pablo passed

It is perhaps understandable that the news media concentrate on shocking images of devastation on land.

People missing at sea are less obvious. But the global loss of life among artisanal fishermen remains appallingly high – and is significantly under-reported.

Fishing is a dangerous industry worldwide. In Canada in February the five crew of the Miss Ally were lost when their boat capsized southeast of Nova Scotia. Searching aircraft spotted the upturned hull, but the men had little chance in rough weather and cold water.

The cost of fish is high.

Efforts to improve fishing industry safety have been going on internationally for decades. The differences in design and operation mean that the international conventions on ship safety do not suit fishing vessels; but a specific convention first agreed in 1977 failed to progress. It was duly replaced by the 1993 Torremolinos Protocol. Now – 20 years later, and following www.international-maritime-rescue.org

International conventions have their place – but real progress has to be made at the front line. The fishing industry has to change its attitude to safety from within; and to be enabled to do so. Maybe we should pay a little more for our fish suppers?

Have a look at the website www.safety-forfishermen.org, hosted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and managed by a selected group of experts (including IMRF Members ICE-SAR) contributing information and material on safety at sea in the fisheries sector. This site is described as “the gateway to information and material related to safety for fishermen”.

The important thing here is to ensure that people use that gateway; that the safety information and support gets to those it is intended for; and that it can be put into effect.

The best advice in the world is no good if it only sits unread on a website, gathering cyber-dust. And it’s not much use either to tell an artisanal fisherman that he should wear a lifejacket if he can’t afford one or it gets in the way. Even giving equipment, free of charge, is of limited use. Who can blame a man trying to keep his family fed from one day to the next if he then sells the gift on? Even in the most developed countries and industries the ‘safety culture’ is notoriously hard to keep alive.

But what has all this to do with SAR, you might well ask?

“Fishing is probably the most dangerous occupation in the world”, says the Safety for Fishermen website: over 24,000 are known to die each year. Clearly, we must respond to this. But we are the International Maritime Rescue Federation. Is safety our business?

Yes. It must be. We should not address SAR in isolation.

Apart from the obvious benefits of improved safety – preventing accidents in the first place – people who are better prepared are more likely to live to be rescued when an accident does eventually occur.

This is why the IMRF is running a water safety education & awareness project. We are not, of course, in any kind of ‘competition’ with safety-first organisations. The opposite is true: we will support, not duplicate, their work.

And in this case we wholeheartedly support the efforts being made to improve fishing safety.

Let’s reduce the true cost of fish. page 6

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Member Focus: VISAR Virgin Islands Search and Rescue (VISAR) is the officially recognised voluntary search and rescue service in the British Virgin Islands – and an IMRF Member. It provides 24-hour cover throughout the year, in close cooperation with the Royal British Virgin Islands police, fire and ambulance services.

In early 1988, a team of advisors from the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office made a number of development recommendations to the Government of the BVI. One of these was that the Government should invite the group of people then running an informal SAR service to create an "autonomous, para-professional, dedicated volunteer maritime search and rescue service."

VISAR was founded as a result, modelled on the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in the UK & Ireland. Like the RNLI and many other lifeboat services in Europe, it is an independent organisation, and is funded almost entirely by charitable donations.

VISAR’s volunteers come from all walks of life, and undergo rigorous training in seamanship and small boathandling skills, SAR techniques and first aid.

They have now carried out well over 450 SAR missions – some 85% of them medically-related – and have helped more than 1,200 people in distress. They are directly responsible for saving more than 40 lives.

VISAR operate two TP Marine RIBs, one based in Tortola, the other in Virgin Gorda. (See LIFE LINE, August 2012.) They also provide the BVI’s maritime SAR coordination function, providing cover for all the islands and the waters around the BVI. Both boats are able to operate in very rough conditions. Each carries a full medical kit, an AED (automatic emergency defibrillator), a back-board and straps, two oxygen cylinders, search lights, and lifejackets for use by casualties.

The boats also carry spare fuel, parts and tools in the case of breakdown, and are designed to provide protection for the crew in the case of an emergency, including capsize lights and a CO2 self-righting bag on the radar arch at the stern.

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

April 2013

In the true spirit of sharing that epitomises the IMRF, VISAR work closely with other Members.

Operationally, they have a close working relationship with the US Coast Guard, assisting with rescues in the US Virgin Islands, and participating on a regular basis in joint helicopter training sessions with aircraft from the USCG base in Puerto Rico.

In terms of training and equipment, VISAR also share with fellow IMRF Members.

Udo Fox, for example, of the German Maritime SAR Service (DGzRS) – and an IMRF Trustee – has provided training on SAR management and mission coordination.

And last November an RNLI team provided a week of training in a range of SAR and seamanship-related topics – for, as is so often the case these days in volunteerbased maritime SAR organisations, VISAR’s crews do not necessarily have a maritime background. Subjects covered on this occasion – based on a suggested structure discussed between the two organisations beforehand – included search and rescue planning, dynamic risk assessment, team management skills, radar and AIS, traditional and electronic navigation, boat handling and basic seamanship for beginners.

VISAR’s relationship with the RNLI has been a fruitful one since the earliest days. One of the many, and very important, benefits of IMRF Membership is the ability it gives to turn to fellow Members for information, particular expertise and advice. (The IMRF Secretariat can assist with this: please see the ‘Members Assisting Members’ page in the Members’ section of our website, www. international-maritime-rescue.org.)

An example of this sharing process in action began with the IMRF’s World Maritime Rescue Congress in China in 2011. VISAR saw user-friendly crew lifejackets exhibited there, and decided to upgrade. Before making this large purchase, however, they turned again to the RNLI, who were able to give detailed advice based on their own crews’ experience, and to recommend the equipment. Why re-invent the wheel, after all...?

For more on VISAR, see www. visar.org. And if you are interested in IMRF Membership, please contact Ann Laing at a.laing@internationalmaritime-rescue.org.

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April 2013

Water Safety and Education: project meeting sets the path Most LIFE LINE readers will be aware of the key projects the IMRF are working on. One of these is looking at how we can share the excellent Water Safety Education programmes which many of our Members have developed with the wider maritime SAR community.

The steering group headed

by Ann Laing (IMRF Executive Officer) met in Dublin during March to advance the project.

Attending the meeting were John Leech (Irish Water Safety), Romano Grandi (National Rescue Society of Italy), Tony Wafer (RNLI UK) and Kristin Dagbjartur (ICESAR, Iceland).

As this was the initial meeting of the group, IMRF CEO Bruce Reid also attended. Bruce set the scene, which started discussion and debate among the attendees as they drilled into the topic and identified the best way forward.

At first sight this seems a straightforward project. Many IMRF Members run successful programmes and are happy to make the material available to others.

However the amount of material available, the diversity of the topics and the number of variables to consider make the challenge quite daunting. So the pathway agreed was to take some small bites out of the larger project, using the IMRF website to start building the library of links and interest among the wider Membership. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time...

This will give those Members who are looking for assistance in this area a single point of contact where they can review programmes and link directly to the organisations who own them.

While doing this there are some key issues to be resolved, particularly around the protection of the property and the best way to work within copyright laws. We also need to establish some quality control for the material to ensure we are directing Members to programmes that are already proven; and we will be building the ‘backend system’ to manage contacts with those interested and the library of knowledge available through the site.

There will be more information available in the coming weeks so keep an eye on the website (www.international-maritimerescue.org) or click on the ‘expression of interest’ form on the education page in the site so that we can send you updates via email.

April Board Meeting moves to Malta Due to logistical issues, the April IMRF Trustee meeting planned for Bangladesh (as reported in our February issue) has been moved to Malta, very kindly hosted by IMRF Members, The Armed Forces of Malta (AFM). A new date for Bangladesh is being scheduled for later this year.

Great work from AFM’s Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Mallia has meant that as well as the Board meeting there will also be a regional maritime SAR meeting to take advantage of the Trustees’ visit.

The regional meeting will be on Tuesday 16th April. Anyone interested in attending, please contact the IMRF office for further details (+44 (0)1569 765768 or secretariat@internationalmaritime-rescue.org.)

The meeting format will be more discussion than presentation, as the IMRF Trustees hope to gain a greater appreciation of the maritime SAR challenges in the region and to identify areas in which the charity may be able to assist.

One of the issues we will be very interested in discussing is that of migrants in distress in the Mediterranean. Increasing numbers of people are leaving north African and eastern Mediterranean countries, seeking refuge or a better life in Europe – and they often do so in boats quite unsuitable for the journey. Unknown numbers have died. This stream of ill-equipped people getting into difficulty places enormous pressure on the SAR organisations in the region. Hearing first-hand about this terrible problem from the experts faced with it will give the IMRF Board the real picture.

We look forward to reporting back on a successful meeting in the next edition of LIFE LINE. To learn more about our hosts, The Armed Forces of Malta, please visit www.afm.gov.mt.

Bruce Reid commented: “The day in Dublin has helped advance this project and it was fitting that a clearer idea of the IMRF role in the education space came through from the discussions. This was articulated by the group as the vision of supporting IMRF Members to ‘end preventable loss of life and encourage personal responsibility on the water’.”

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

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Tragedy in the Gulf of Guinea More than 100 people died in March in a ferry disaster out in the Gulf of Guinea, 40 miles from Calabar, Nigeria. 128 passengers and 5 crew are said to have been aboard the wooden vessel: some reports suggest higher passenger numbers. There were fewer than 30 survivors.

One of the survivors, Kieve Sani, from Togo, said that after the boat’s engine failed it began to take on water and subsequently sank. "When the engine stopped, the driver asked us to pray.

Some prayed to Jesus, others prayed to Allah; but this did not help as the engine did not start working."

It was over two days before the survivors were found by a vessel belonging to Addax Petroleum, who have an oil rig in the area. Mr Sani said that he and a lady also rescued “took hold of a cylinder along with two other people, but as the days went by the others became too weak and unable to hold on to the cylinder and were swept away.”

There is some confusion about the details of the boat and her route. Most of the passengers appear to have been from Togo, Ghana and Niger, bound for Gabon in search of work.

Some reports speak of illegal migrants, and trafficking.

While we do not know – and may never know – the details of this tragic case, there are several recognisable themes. An unseaworthy vessel, only able to operate by overloading with people only able to pay cheap fares. A failure to raise the alarm once the boat got into difficulty. A lack of survival equipment. Little or no notice paid by other than the local news media.

It’s another compelling reason for the IMRF to continue our work. www.international-maritime-rescue.org

April 2013

Improving safety and SAR in the developing world We have drawn attention to ferry disasters in the developing world fairly frequently in these pages – and have bemoaned the fact that, while a major accident to a passenger ship in the developed world grabs the headlines for days, the dreadful loss of life in the world’s waters among ‘The Other 90%’ often goes almost unnoticed. The accident in the Gulf of Guinea reported on this page is yet another example.

The IMRF exists to help develop maritime SAR worldwide, and one of our projects aims to help improve mass rescue operations; a subject nobody in SAR can feel particularly comfortable about.

There’s a lot to do. The report into the loss of the Rabaul Queen in Papua New Guinea in February 2012, for example, notes that the local SAR coordinator was not yet fully trained. He was hundreds of miles away, and his communications facilities were limited to telephones and a handheld VHF radio.

There are a lot of things to do – but we can begin to do them. Nothing is gained by hand-wringing. The problems are well-known and, one by one, can be addressed. There are things we can do to help improve SAR capability, at all levels.

Much can be done, too, to prevent such accidents happening in the first place, or at least to mitigate their effects. Meditating on the sinking of the Skagit off Zanzibar in July 2012, Len Roueche of our partner NGO, Interferry, wrote: “The report on the maritime disaster of July 18 concluded that there were 447 passengers on board, not 290

as mentioned at the time by officials, with cargo also way over the limit of the approved carrying capacity.

“The ship went down claiming 81 confirmed lives, while another 212 went missing and were never recovered from the sea. There were 154 passengers who survived the sinking as a result of swift rescue action by mostly private boats rushing to the scene.

“This accident is one in a long line of lake and ocean disasters suffered by Tanzania, largely attributed to corrupt practices when inspecting vessels and issuing certificates of sea worthiness and by lax enforcement of loading limits for passengers and cargo.”

The commission of inquiry into the loss of the Skagit spent almost three months fully investigating the accident, interviewing survivors and maritime officials and combing through maintenance and operational records of the company owning and managing the ship.

That is excellent, and such inquiry reports add great weight of evidence to the campaign. More and more people, from the Secretary-General of the IMO down (see page 1), are calling for action, and the IMRF is playing its part.

Want to help? Lobby for improvements in ferry safety for ‘The Other 90%’. Ask your Government to support the IMO’s and Interferry’s efforts in this respect (see page 4).

And you can help at the SAR end too. If your organisation is not an IMRF Member, suggest that they join. You can help sponsor a development project, too: every little helps! For details, email: secretariat@internationalmaritime-rescue.org. page 9

LIFE LINE

Asante sana!* The Crisis Response Development Foundation is a privately funded Kenyan organisation that works with communities and the local authorities to improve safety and security.

CRDF design, implement and sustain projects which offer a rapid, effective and professional response to crisis incidents such as vehicle, aircraft, train and boat accidents, including water rescue and recovery. In addition to developing incident response capabilities within communities, the CRDF designs and implements training programmes on safety and security for communities and schools.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people die needlessly in Kenya each year as a result of accidents and natural calamities. CRDF’s experience has shown that many more lives are saved when the communities affected are aware of what they can do and how they can use their local expertise and resources instead of waiting for external assistance.

CRDF therefore focuses on utilising expertise and resources available locally as part of the overall community capacity building process.

The IMRF has been helping with this, providing funding toward CRDF's community school swimming programme. Children from remote fishing villages along the Kenyan coast have been shown how to be safer near water, and have been taking swimming lessons. Regular updates on their progress are posted on www.facebook.com/crdfafrica.

Some of the children benefitting from this programme are shown below, with their Thank You banner for the funders.

If you would like to know more, visit the Facebook page – and hit the ‘Like’ button! Or you can read more at www.crdfafrica.org.

* Thank you very much! www.international-maritime-rescue.org

April 2013

A casualty of the raging sea It is with great sadness that we report the closure of the Maritime Rescue Institute (MRI), based at Stonehaven, in Scotland. Not only have the MRI and its predecessor organisations served the SAR world by providing training down the years, and seafarers in distress by providing a lifeboat on that rockbound coast, but it has also been a Full Member and stalwart supporter of the IMRF. Indeed, the IMRF’s admin team has been housed by the MRI, and the MRI’s Chief Executive, Ann Laing, is also our membership secretary, and a rock herself, part of the IMRF’s very foundations.

The MRI were a subject of a ‘Member Focus’ article in LIFE LINE only in February: Ann described then the storms that did so much damage to the MRI’s boats and buildings.

That is the ‘harbour’ at Stonehaven in the pictures. We know what the sea can do – and this time it has done too much. Not everything that happens in SAR is about success: we know that too.

But some small good has been salvaged from the wreck for the wider SAR community: please see the article at right.

And a silver lining Over £25,000 has been raised through a fundraising dinner in Aberdeen, Scotland, to support the work done by the IMRF. The dinner had been planned in support of IMRF Members the Maritime Rescue Institute (MRI) – but, as reported, left, the MRI has been forced to close its doors after devastating storm damage. With planning already well advanced the MRI generously recommended that IMRF receive this year’s proceeds, as the two organisations have been so closely linked.

MRI Chairman Colin Braithwaite said “Sponsors and table hosts were happy to proceed so we have used the event to celebrate the outstanding service MRI has provided to local and international maritime SAR as well as generating much needed funds to support the work of the IMRF”.

250 guests attended the dinner and contributed to a fundraising auction. Ann Laing, CEO of MRI, reflected: “Our guests have always been incredibly generous supporting MRI so the evening has been a chance to say a very big thank you.

“We are devastated at having to close the charity, but there is consolation in being able to make a difference right to the end with all the proceeds from the evening being used within the maritime SAR sector”.

Bruce Reid, IMRF CEO, added “The MRI has been a m e m b e r o f t h e IMRF for over 30 years and the organisation is massively respected internationally and will be missed.

“We will ensure the funds raised from the event are used to continue fulfilling our shared humanitarian goal of preventing loss of life in the worlds waters.” page 10

LIFE LINE

April 2013

News from Finland: a new SAR (hover)craft, and a new face at the helm Captain Jori Nordström, Operations Director of the Finnish Lifeboat Institution, writes to tell us of “dramatic changes, such as moving the Institution’s HQ from southern Helsinki´s cozy embassy area to the vibrant heart of the city’s business district.

“And, even though the ice cover has not yet left the Northern Baltic or the inland lakes, we are introducing a totally new vessel type to our fleet – the hovercraft to the rescue!

“Otherwise,” says Jori, “It’s business as usual and just waiting for the snow to melt...!”

One of our manikins is missing...

Do you use a floating dummy for SAR or manoverboard training? Many IMRF Members do – a buoyant manikin, the same size and weight as a man, is an invaluable training aid; and obviously safer to use than a spare member of the crew...

But what happens if your manikin floats away and can’t be found? That’s quite an expensive loss – and it can be embarrassing or even dangerous too, if it is later spotted and a real rescue ensues.

‘My advice,’ says the RNLI’s Staff Officer Operations (Training), Adrian Carey, ‘If you need a search target, is to use a half-filled water container. If that’s lost, it’s no big deal; and similar characteristics to a real search target can be reasonably well simulated.

The manikin can then be reserved for recovery drills alone.

The hovercraft is 8.2m long, with a 3.4m beam, 12-person capacity, and a cruising speed of 25-35 knots, depending on the circumstances. Its development continues. The unit obviously extends the Lifeboat Institution’s capabilities in the frozen winter months – but there is no intention of replacing the Institution’s 150-strong rescue vessel fleet! The hovercraft’s likely work will be responding to falls through the ice, reports of missing people, and ambulance work.

Jori also reports that the Institution’s highly respected long term CEO and administrator, Kyösti Vesterinen, has retired. Kyösti is pictured below, receiving the award of Honorary Membership of the Institution; with (inset) his successor, Jari Piirainen. We wish both our colleagues all the very best for the future.

‘We have used VHF transmitters attached to the target to enable location by VHFDF, usually with great success; but even they have been confounded by local interference and lost. And their cost makes it unreasonable for every lifeboat station to own one.

‘Some stations have their own answers – jerrycans of water with whip masts attached and old lifejacket lights and retro reflective tape on top to aid night time location. I have even known stations purchase their own GPS trackers to attach to a semisubmerged object. They can then analyse the real tidal rate and direction by downloading to a PC when recovered. Modern trackers give pretty much live data so iPhones have been used by lifeboat crew to track suitably equipped search targets too.

‘Manikins should be well marked with owner and contact information, of course. If found by a third party they can be returned – and I usually find that when we explain that in realistic training events losses are just a part of proving the difficulty of the job, it turns a potential embarrassment into a good educational chat!’

The manikins shown in the picture above are from the range of training aids produced by Ruth Lee Ltd – see www.ruthlee.co.uk

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

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LIFE LINE

April 2013

World Maritime Rescue Congress 2015

This is the view of the New Harbour at Bremerhaven, where the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger – the German Maritime SAR Service – will be hosting the IMRF’s next World Maritime Rescue Congress, in 2015, in conjunction with the celebration of th their own 150 anniversary.

KEGM-7 crew honoured In our February edition we noted, with great sadness, the loss on service of three members of the crew of KEGM-7, a fast rescue boat of the Turkish General Directorate of Coastal Safety. A fourth crew member survived.

IMRF Members BULSAR, the Bulgarian lifeboat organisation, have awarded their 2012 award for ‘civic valour and selflessness’ displayed by a foreign Black Sea SAR unit to the KEGM-7’s crew, noting their heroism and self-sacrifice.

The award – a statuette and honorary charter – was presented at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly for Black Sea Economic Cooperation, held in Istanbul in late February.

GISIS

2015 may seem a long way off – but you know how time st th flies! Note Monday 1 to Thursday 4 June 2015 in your diaries now.

In addition to the Congress itself – in which a wealth of material of interest to SAR people will be presented and discussed – a major SAR exhibition and a rally of SAR units (helicopters as well as rescue craft) are being planned. These events will be on 1-3 June; and, as usual, the IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting will be held at rd the Congress venue, beginning on the 3 and concluding th by lunchtime on the 4 .

Save those dates: you want to be there!

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has a Global Integrated Shipping Information System on its website (gisis.imo.org). Many of the System’s modules are available to the public.

The ‘Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue’ module contains the Global SAR Plan, with information provided by IMO Member States on the availability of SAR services such as Rescue Coordination Centres and Telemedical Advice Services, together with maps showing the world’s SAR Regions.

In a recent change of procedure, SAR service information should now be updated by Member States direct, online.

(COMSAR.1/Circ.55 provides guidance.)

And finally...

We hope that you have found this issue of LIFE LINE informative and interesting. We know that there is much more going on among IMRF’s membership that could be reported here, to the benefit of all – but we rely on you, the reader, to tell us about it! LIFE LINE and the IMRF website need you to provide their contents – your news, your projects, your events, your ideas, your lessons learned.

We also need your pictures, please: good quality pictures (more than 250 kB, if possible) of your SAR units – boats, ships, aircraft, RCCs etc. These will be used in LIFE LINE and on the website – but are also needed for presentations and to accompany press articles about the IMRF and its worldwide work.

Please send articles and pictures (or links to them, with formal permission for them to be used for IMRF purposes) to news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

Let’s spread the word, for the benefit of all at risk on the world’s waters.

LIFE LINE www.international-maritime-rescue.org

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