lifeline august 2012 - english

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

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

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE

The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF)

News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development…

In this issue:

the IMRF appoints a new Chief Executive Officer

results of the IMRF’s second conference on mass rescue operations

more on the IMO’s revised cold water survival guidance

news from the Caribbean, the Philippines, the Baltic and the UK

and more!

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A message from our Chairman

On behalf of the Board of Trustees I am delighted to announce the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer for the International Maritime Rescue Federation.

Bruce Reid (pictured above left, with the Chairman) is the former CEO of Coastguard New Zealand. He brings to the IMRF a proven record of building non-governmental organisation capability, financial sustainability, infrastructure and, most importantly, a focus on delivering value to members.

The Board were looking for an individual to drive positive change for the IMRF. We received clear direction from the IMRF Members at last year’s quadrennial general meeting in Shanghai. You told us that you are keen to see the organisation grow and evolve. The key for us was to find the right person to lead this evolution – someone who can advance the organisation to the next level, building on the work already done by the Board and Secretariat. We are pleased to have secured Bruce’s services and excited about the prospects his appointment opens up.

I am sure that you will all join me and the rest of the Board and Secretariat in welcoming Bruce and his partner Mette to the IMRF family.

Michael Vlasto Chairman of IMRF Trustees

LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE AAuugguusstt 22001122

page 2

Editorial

Welcome to the August edition of your newsletter. Another full and (I hope you will agree!) interesting update on what the IMRF and our Members have been doing.

Please remember that if you would like to see your news here too we would be delighted to hear from you. Simply email me at the address below.

In this edition we have reports on our very successful second mass rescue operations conference, kindly and expertly hosted once again by our good friends in the Swedish Sea Rescue Society. As you will see from our ‘Where next?’ article, the conference does not conclude our work on this very difficult subject. Quite the opposite: there is a great deal of work still to do. Watch LIFE LINE for further progress reports.

In this edition too is the third in our three-part series on cold water survival; guidance developed by a team of experts coordinated by the IMRF on behalf of the IMO. If you missed the first two parts, please visit our website – www.international-maritime-rescue.org – and look up the April and June editions of LIFE LINE.

And there is the usual mix of SAR news from around the world – much good but some very bad. SAR success is always something we like to read about, but we know that the risks are always there too. The IMRF is a global SAR family and, like any family, we come together to support those who are bereaved. In this sad case our thoughts are with our friends in Royal Canadian Marine SAR, who lost two crew members in June: please see page 10.

Life-threatening risk; mass rescue operations; cold water... The Titanic centenary is behind us now – but I would like to conclude with a piece recently reprinted in my local newspaper, here in England. The original article was dated 8 June 1912:

"On Monday five more 28ft Berthon boats left the Romsey works for placing on the White Star liner Olympic, which left Southampton on Wednesday for New York. This makes ten new boats which have left Romsey for this mammoth liner since the disaster to the Titanic and we understand work at the boatyard is still continuing at full pressure to cope with orders which are being received from other lines."

Berthons made collapsible lifeboats in those days – folding boats, easily stowed. Infamously, Titanic did not have enough boat capacity for all those aboard her. Yet she fulfilled the existing regulations (the foolishness of which her tragedy demonstrated), as did many another liner, similarly under-equipped.

Why mention this? Well, because the rush to buy folding lifeboats came after the disaster, when it was

too late. As with everything the IMRF does, our mass rescue project seeks to help people be ready before disaster strikes, by sharing experience and expertise.

Would you like to share yours...?

Dave Jardine-Smith

[email protected]

Contents

A message from the Chairman .................... 1

Editorial ................................. 2

Dates for the Diary ................................. 2

Mass rescue conference .................... 3

The IMRF MRO project – where next? ....... 5

The need remains ................................. 5

SAR Matters ................................. 6

Cold water survival (part 3) .................... 7

It came by sea ................................. 10

DanGerEx 2012 ................................. 10

Sad news from Canada .................... 10

News from the Virgin Islands .................... 10

A drowning world ................................. 11

New lifeboats ................................. 11

SAR at the sharp end ................................ 12

AFRAS Awards 2012 ................................ 12

It’s an honour ................................ 12

Send us your news & pictures ...... 12

Dates for the Diary

7th China International Rescue & Salvage Conference & Exhibition 12-14 September 2012

To be held in Chengdu, China. For details, see: www.cirsc.org.cn/en/index.aspx

RESCUE 2012 - Iceland 19-21 October 2012

Arranged by IMRF Members ICE-SAR, and to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland. For details, see: www.icesar.com/rescue

IMRF South American Regional Congress 30 October – 2 November 2012

To be held in Montevideo, Uruguay. For details, please contact [email protected]

World Maritime Rescue Congress 1-4 June 2015

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

If you have a SAR event of international interest which you would like to see listed here, please send the details to:

[email protected]


page 3

Gothenburg II - the second in the IMRF mass

rescue conference series

The IMRF held the second in its ‘Gothenburg’ series of conferences on mass rescue operations at the headquarters of IMRF Members the Swedish Sea Rescue Society (SSRS) on 3-5 June 2012. The conference was attended by a total of 128 delegates, representing 62 organisations from a total of 27 nations. It was agreed to have been a great success.

The full report of the event is currently available to all on the IMRF website, www.international-maritime-rescue.org. (In September it will be moved to the

Members’ area of the site.) We report on some of the highlights here; and, on page 5, go on to look at the proposals the conference delegates made for further project work.

Scenes from the ‘mass rescue’ with which the

conference began.

What usually happens when you arrive at a conference is that someone gives you a badge and some papers, and perhaps a welcoming smile and a coffee...

Delegates at ‘Gothenburg II’ were given all these things – but they were also given a lifejacket and were asked to join a ferry waiting at a dock nearby. When all were aboard, the ferry sailed; but she quickly got into distress. Her Master gave the order to abandon the vessel...

Those who preferred not to go down with the ship used a slide at the ferry’s bow to board an open raft, then move into two canopied liferafts – a broad simulation of a marine evacuation system. A SAR helicopter arrived to lift three ‘injured’ casualties from the rafts (an operation which took 30 minutes) and some of the ‘survivors’ were asked to board a fast rescue craft – again simulating the sort of activity that might be experienced by those abandoning a passenger vessel at sea. The rafts were subsequently towed to the shore and the ‘survivors’ were landed via a Swedish Sea Rescue Society rescue boat, to enjoy the facilities afforded by SSRS’s ‘place of safety’.

Although intended as a relatively light-hearted introduction to the conference, the exercise also had the serious purpose of reminding delegates of some of the difficulties likely to be encountered by those obliged to abandon ship at sea. It was a look at a mass rescue operation from the casualty’s perspective – a view that sometimes those of us in SAR may, perhaps, forget.

This perspective was maintained when the conference proper began the following morning. The journalist, broadcaster and author Jan Mosander gave the first keynote address – a graphic

account of his and his wi fe ’s exper iences aboard the ill-fated Costa Concordia on 13

January 2012, when the cruise ship grounded and subsequen t l y stranded, lying on her side on the island of Giglio.

The second keynote speech was given by Mary Landry, recently appointed the United States Coast Guard’s Director o f Inc ident

Management and Preparedness Policy after a distinguished career in the uniformed branch of the service which included, among much else, the coordination of the response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, following the blowout and explosion aboard that rig. Ms Landry noted the novelty of some of the necessary responses in a mass rescue operation (MRO): we will need to ‘think on our feet’. We need to make use of experience and be creative. But above all we must avoid complacency.

Central to the conference were two discursive exercises, for which the delegates were divided into interdisciplinary and multinational working groups. Discussion was based on MRO scenarios and a range of

questions designed to cover the full range of the subject.

The first day’s discussions arose from the loss of the ropax ferry Lisco Gloria in the

Baltic in October 2010. The scene was set by Udo Helge Fox, Executive Director of the German Maritime SAR Service (and an IMRF Trustee). Capt Fox noted the low-probabi l i ty / h igh -consequence nature of the

(continued on page 4)


page 4

The IMRF mass rescue conference

(continued from page 3)

sort of events that lead to maritime MROs; and their characteristic complexity. MROs typically include logistical problems; different emergency response organizational structures; inadequate and incompatible communications systems and procedures; a lack of structure for co-ordinated planning among the responding agencies; unclear lines of authority; differences in terminology; and unclear or unspecified objectives.

The second day’s discussions were based on an accident scenario set 20 years into the future, threatening the survival of what is today one of the largest-capacity passenger ships afloat, in an area very remote from dedicated SAR resources.

On both days the groups were asked to keep the overall conference aims in mind:

what improvements can be made to our mass rescue planning and response; and

how can the IMRF help to achieve this?

The discussion sessions were interspersed with presentations on a variety of very relevant topics. Meng Daqiu of China Rescue and Salvage gave a presentation on the successful response to the outbreak of fire aboard the ferry Liao Hai off

Dalian in November 2004. Capt Trevor Bailey of Seatag Safety Systems addressed the conference on the subject of accounting for people involved in an emergency. And Gerry Keeling (former CEO of the IMRF) addressed the MRO subject as a whole. What was abundantly clear, he said, was that, when it comes to mass rescue, ‘sticking your head in the sand’ is no solution!

John Dalziel gave a presentation on behalf of Interferry, the association which represents the ferry industry worldwide. Mr Dalziel drew delegates’ attention to the continuing loss of life, and the suffering that results, from preventable ferry accidents around the world, and suggested that ferry safety and accident response might be improved in tandem.

Dennis Anthony of the Danish Maritime Authority spoke about the

increasing operation of cruise ships around the coasts of Greenland, highlighting the hazards of poor charting, sea ice and icebergs in the sailing season, and the fact that rescue, should an accident occur, would generally be very difficult indeed in such a remote area.

Mikael Hinnerson and Fredrik Falkman gave an update on the First Independent Responder Safe Transfer (FIRST) Project, jointly conducted by the SSRS and Stena Line, and researching and developing systems and procedures for efficient mass rescue at sea; and Petteri Leppänen of the Finnish Border Guard explained a triage system developed in Finland to help maritime accident responders (in particular offshore firefighting teams and others to be deployed as on-board support) to risk-assess their deployment.

The conference was also addressed by Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, Minister for Infrastructure in the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications. She recalled the Estonia disaster of 1994;

her own initial disbelief when she heard of it; and the traumatic effect on the people of Sweden, for many Swedish groups had been aboard the ferry. She acknowledged that, in the maritime sector, Sweden could not handle an MRO alone: there is a need to work with the other countries in the region, sharing knowledge and experience before any emergency as well as in actual response. Effective training, said the Minister, is key – and it is expected by people who depend on safe transport and a proper response to any emergency.

The results of the working group discussions were detailed and thoughtful.

The full results may be read in the conference report on the IMRF website; and the delegates’ proposals for further action by the IMRF are discussed on page 5. Here we have space only for a brief summary of their conclusions.

It was generally agreed that the infrequency of MROs, in the developed world at least, is itself a part of the problem. Lack of experience leads inevitably to lack of awareness and hence preparedness, unless this gap is filled by planning and training.

Carefully coordinated and realistic planning, involving as many of the likely responders as possible, is essential. And for the plan to actually work in practice, it needs to be trained and tested. This may be onerous for what is, by definition, a rare event – but to do nothing but hope that such a thing does not happen to us is no real alternative. ‘All-hazards’ major incident planning – including but not limited to MROs – is beneficial.

Delegates discussed how such planning and training might be funded. They agreed the importance of establishing an agreed and effective command and control structure. Good communications (including early alerting) are vital; and the importance of well-prepared potential On Scene Coordinators was agreed to be clear. ‘Places of safety’ and the process by which survivors should be delivered to them were discussed. So were means of testing the planning by exercises. Lessons learned, from incident and exercise experience, should be widely disseminated.

The key point, delegates agreed, was that such incidents must be specifically planned for, with top- level ‘ownership’. The general

feeling was that the planning so far has been insufficient.

The question of how to deal with an MRO in an area remote from SAR facilities was debated at length. Cruise ship companies operating in such areas have a responsibility to work closely with the relevant SAR authorities in preparation, and the development of a capability to recover people in survival craft or from the water

should be mandatory for all vessels.

Finally, the use of aircraft in MROs was discussed; as was the difficult issue of how to account for everyone involved.

For more details of all these discussions, please see the conference report.


page 5

The IMRF mass rescue operations project: where next?

One of the main aims for the IMRF’s mass rescue operations (MRO) conference in Gothenburg in June (see the report on pages 3 & 4 of this edition, and the main conference report on the IMRF website, www.international-maritime-rescue.org) was to identify areas of work for the IMRF to consider as we continue our project to improve global response to such incidents.

A number of very useful suggestions were made by the delegates attending. We summarise the main points here.

First, IMRF Members were urged to keep up the pressure, working to keep the subject in the public’s eye so that all stakeholders will focus on it and give it due attention. Governments, emergency response organisations, and industry should be encouraged to plan and train together.

The IMRF should aim to become an ‘expert organisation’ as regards MROs, building up a bank of internationally-recognised experts from among its Members, together with a database of generic guidance, checklists, standard operating procedures and lessons learned.

It was suggested that, working with its Members, the IMRF might draft a template MRO plan, including, for example, communications planning and the potential use of resources such as ‘vessels of opportunity’ and aircraft. Users of the template would then be able to incorporate local or regional variations.

To facilitate this sharing of information the IMRF could organise MRO workshops around the world. The emphasis of such events would be to raise awareness of the common issues and to suggest generic solutions that might be of local applicability. The IMRF’s experts could also assist with exercise planning and conduct.

Particular issues which it was suggested the IMRF might help with included developing guidance on MRO communications, and on on-scene coordination, with remote area operations especially in mind.

‘Vessels of opportunity’ are another matter that might be usefully addressed. It is such vessels that must fill the gap identified in the IMO’s current definition of a mass rescue operation. To do so fully, these vessels should be able to recover people in distress. The IMRF should lead a review of the IMO’s Guide to Recovery Techniques, and might promote the use of efficient recovery systems.

Last but not least there was general support for another conference in the ‘Gothenburg’ series.

The IMRF Secretariat and Board will give these proposals close attention. What can be done will, inevitably, be limited by the resources available – and the everyday work of supporting ‘routine’ SAR should not be subordinated to this effort, as conference delegates pointed out. But what the IMRF can do in this difficult and important area, it will.

The need remains...

Only a week after the IMRF’s mass rescue operations conference, SAR authorities in the Philippines were dealing with just such another case.

The Josille II (pictured above) sank in rough weather on 12 June, having grounded close to Pangauanen Island in Palawan. There were reported to be 14 crew and 52 passengers aboard – although at least 18 of the passengers were not listed in the vessel’s manifest. 56 people were rescued; a tribute to those responding in difficult conditions. But at least seven people died.

Ferries are one of the main modes of transport in the Philippine archipelago of more than 7,100 islands, and accidents at sea are not uncommon due to poor safety standards and overloading. A Palawan coastguard spokeswoman told AFP that ferry masters frequently mis-declare the actual number of passengers on board to evade safety regulations. As John Dalziel had reported to the IMRF’s Gothenburg conference the week before, the shipping organisation Interferry’s researches have shown that many ferry operations in the developing world simply cannot make a profit if they do not overload their vessels.

Such overloading was a factor in the Rabaul Queen disaster too. The grim findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the loss of the Papua New Guinean ferry in February include the fact that, although only certified to carry 295 passengers, tickets were sold to 393 people. There were also about 10 infants (a guess, as the regulations do not cover infants at all), plus 14 crew. More than 140 people died – but, as so often, the full number will never be known for certain.

The toll continues. As LIFE LINE went to press there was news of another ferry sinking on the busy Tanzanian route from Dar-es-Salaam to Zanzibar. More than 140 of the 290 people reported aboard are feared dead. More on this in our next issue.


page 6

SAR Matters This is a discussion column intended to provide a forum for LIFE LINE readers worldwide to contribute to debate on any relevant SAR issue.

Please see previous editions of LIFE LINE – available on the website, www.international-maritime-rescue.org –

for earlier discussions. Comment and/or new items for discussion should be emailed to [email protected].

In this edition the IMRF’s former Chief Executive, Gerry Keeling, who was among the speakers at our mass rescue conference in Gothenburg in June, reflects on some of the issues arising from that conference and asks:

‘Are we ready to respond?’

It’s now over 100 years since the Titanic disaster, when the maritime world first woke up to the fact that something needed to be done about the safety of people on ships. Since 1912 we unquestionably have safer ships, better systems, and more and much improved life saving appliances at the ready, but – 100 years on – we still can’t make ships “unsinkable”, nor can we prevent serious large-scale life-threatening situations from occurring on board. Worse still, even though we can now give men, women and children a place in a lifeboat, we still cannot guarantee to get them from there to a ‘place of safety’ within an acceptable time.

Regular rescue craft are purposely designed for getting people out of the water, or recovering them from survival craft. In normal rescues, typically involving a small number of persons, a few minutes here or there in the recovery cycle time rarely matters to the overall outcome. However, in the case of a large-scale incident, if the cumulative time taken to recover all casualties (that is the typical cycle time multiplied by the number of people to be recovered) is longer than the average survival time, then, clearly, some will die before they can be recovered. In cases of rapid evacuation, where many may not be wearing properly fitted lifejackets and few if any will have survival suits, a few hours in cold conditions could well be far too long.

Take the Costa Concordia incident as an benchmark situation, where the ship’s own lifeboats were supplemented by local boats (not necessarily SAR recovery craft) available within a very short distance. It still took many hours to get all the casualties to the shore, which was only a short distance away.

And so far we have not considered the effects of weather on our overall recovery times. Small shore-based rescue craft may not be able to transit to the scene in heavy weather conditions, nor be able to operate effectively on arrival. Rescue craft from many merchant ships, including other passenger ships, would suffer similar launch and recovery restrictions. This would inevitably result in fewer rescue craft being capable of operating on scene, and those that could would invariably take longer to complete recovery in the prevailing conditions. Add to this the likelihood that average survival times will also shorten in such conditions.

Most rescue activities depend directly on the physical effort of crews. Clearly, crews will quickly fatigue during sustained rescue operations and their casualty processing rates will drop significantly, unless regular rest and sustenance is provided. This implies that we need to have relief crews available on scene, as well as the necessary logistics and support systems for them. Furthermore, unless the boats can be refuelled and have essential supplies replenished on scene, they will have to interrupt their recovery efforts to make regular refuelling trips back to land.

Ideally, to maximise the time spent on life-critical recovery operations, the distance from the casualty recovery zone to a temporary drop-off location should be as short as possible. Typically large vessels of opportunity act as such places of temporary refuge, capable of providing safe platforms for triage, treatment and ultimately transportation back to a place of safety ashore.

The key difficulty is that we currently do not have a safe and effective means by which large numbers of casualties can be safely transferred from the smaller recovery craft to these larger ships. To compound the problem, merchant ships do not usually have sufficient crew numbers, nor do they have sufficiently trained crew to operate such systems, or to deal with large numbers of casualties once on board.

In recent years, IMRF and a few other like-minded delegations have fought hard at the IMO to highlight these challenges and press for regulations to ensure that vessels of opportunity would be better prepared to provide the necessary assistance. Sadly, though everyone seemed to accept the indisputable need for improvement, few were willing to support the requisite new regulations to make sure that it happens. The status quo, and the problem, remain.

So – have we really moved forward much since Titanic? The once popular ideal of the “unsinkable ship” has faded permanently into history, and the more recent mantra that “the ship is its own best lifeboat” is also wearing slightly thin. Can we afford to continue to trust our luck, to put our heads into the sand, as the risks of a large-scale incident are clearly increasing year on year?

Some would argue that mass rescue operations are infrequent. In fact, in the twelve months since August 2011, when IMRF Members discussed the issue at the World Maritime Rescue Congress in Shanghai, there have been at least eight major passenger ship emergencies around the world, seven of which resulted in the sinking of the ships, threatening the lives of more than 7250 persons on board and resulting in the actual loss of over 850 lives. This total does not count the many more lives lost annually in the smaller ‘village transport’ systems in many under-developed countries – accidents which fail to register on the public radar. Yet these are still ‘mass rescue operations’, for they overwhelm any rescue resource available locally. The need for improvement is obvious.

This article only scratches the surface of the challenges of mass rescue operations. In the next edition of LIFE LINE I’ll consider some of the other challenges and, more importantly, look at proposals for remedial action.

In the meantime, let’s pray that our luck will hold out a little longer.


page 7

However, if the survivor’s airway is under threat –

as it may be if alongside a vessel of any size, even

in calm conditions, because of side-splash –

recover by the quickest method possible.

Keep the survivor slightly head-down during

transport to a place of safety. In a fast rescue craft,

for example, this will mean laying the survivor with

his feet towards the bows.

If a rescue craft has been deployed, survivors

recovered should if possible remain in the craft

during its recovery.

Recovery from survival craft:

In high seas beware of swamping of enclosed craft

on opening the hatch.

Beware of the possibility of rescue collapse on

recovery. This is especially likely in survivors who

have been adrift for a long time.

To avoid collapse employ the horizontal rescue

procedures outlined above.

Treatment of people recovered from cold water

Check for vital signs. Is the casualty breathing? Are they unconscious (unresponsive) or conscious? Begin appropriate First Aid as described below. Always obtain medical advice as soon as possible, even if the casualty has not been in cold water for long, and is conscious. Free advice may be obtained from a Telemedical Maritime Assistance Service (TMAS), which can be contacted via a Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC).

Unconscious casualty:

Adopt standard First Aid procedures. If not breathing:

Check / clear airway; if still not breathing give 2 full

rescue breaths.

Commence cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in

accordance with First Aid training.

While awaiting medical advice continue CPR at a

compression rate of 100 per minute, with 2 rescue

breaths every 30 compressions.

Continue until exhausted if acting alone. If

assistance is available, interchange every 2

minutes to avoid exhaustion.

If the cardiac arrest was not witnessed; if medical

advice is still not available and none is imminent;

and if there are still no signs of life after 30 minutes,

stop CPR but treat the casualty in accordance with

the advice on treating the apparently dead, below.

If the cardiac arrest was witnessed, maintain CPR

until you are either exhausted or receive medical

advice.


‘Cold’ Water Survival

This is the last in a series of three articles: please see our April and June 2012 editions for the other two.

In April we reported that the IMO is to publish revised guidance on cold water survival, based on the work of a group of experts coordinated by the IMRF, and we gave readers that group’s explanation of cold water hazards and their effects. It is a sad fact that people continue to die at sea because they lack this knowledge.

In June we considered what to do prior to abandoning ship and during the survival phase, whether in survival craft or in the water.

We now conclude with guidance for the rescue phase and on treatment of people recovered, including the treatment of the apparently dead. In a future edition of LIFE LINE we will consider the implications which the latest research into cold water survival has for search times.

Readers in warm latitudes should note that “cold water” can, the experts tell us, mean water as warm as 25°C (77°F). Long periods of immersion in water as high as this temperature can still result in a fall in deep body temperature. It follows that most of the planet is covered in “cold” water. So: please read on!

The rescue phase: guidance for those engaged in search & rescue

Search may have to come before rescue. Remember to:

Search long enough! Survival is possible, even after

many hours in cold water.

Ask the Rescue Coordination Centre for advice;

including on how long to keep searching.

Plan and prepare recovery methods for a variety of

possible scenarios while searching. See the IMO’s

guidance on recovery, A Pocket Guide to Recovery

Techniques.

Rescue

Recovery from the water:

Be aware of the dangers to people in the water of

vessel drift, including side-splash – waves generated

or reflected by the hull.

Try to ensure that the survivor does not attempt to

assist: full and coordinated use of their fingers and

arms may not be possible, and lifting an arm to take

hold of a rope can induce sinking and drowning

unless they are wearing a lifejacket.

Encourage the survivor to keep ‘fighting for survival’.

Do not let them relax too soon.

Ideally, the survivor should be recovered in a

horizontal or near-horizontal body position. Lifting a

hypothermic person vertically can induce cardiac

arrest. In a relatively high lift – up to the deck of a ship

or into a helicopter, for example – use two strops or

loops (one under the arms, the other under the knees)

or other means of near-horizontal recovery: see the

Pocket Guide to Recovery Techniques.


page 8



If breathing but unconscious:

Transfer to a sheltered location.

Check for other injuries.

Place in the recovery position.

Beware of vomiting which is very common in seawater

drowning.

Seek medical advice.

Monitor and record breathing and heart rate (neck /

carotid pulse). An increasing breathing and/or heart

rate may indicate the onset of drowning complications

– and in a severely hypothermic person cardiac arrest

can occur at any time.

Provide oxygen by mask, if available.

Provide additional insulation to prevent continued

cooling. To provide protection against evaporative

heat loss enclose in a large waterproof bag or

sheeting.

Conscious casualty:

Short exposure (less than about 30 minutes): survivor is shivering

Survivors who are fully alert, rational and capable of

recounting their experiences, although shivering

dramatically, will recover fully if they remove their wet

clothing and are insulated with blankets etc. If their

exposure has been relatively short, 30 minutes or so,

they can be re-warmed in a hot bath, or seated in a

shower* – but only if shivering and while being

supervised for early signs of dizziness or collapse

associated with overheating.

Alternatively, for survivors who are shivering and alert,

physical exercise will speed up re-warming.


*The bath or shower should be at a temperature of 39-41°C (102-106°F). Much less than this and the survivor’s body will continue cooling, even if the water feels ‘warm’. If you do not have a thermometer, dip your bare elbow in the water: the heat will be tolerable at about the correct temperature, but not above it.

Long exposure (more than 30 minutes) and/or survivor is not shivering

Insulate to prevent further heat loss through

evaporation and exposure to wind.

Avoid unnecessary manhandling – enclose in blankets

and/or plastic, including head (but not face), neck,

hands and feet.

Move to a warm, sheltered location.

Lay down in a semi-horizontal or half-sitting position

(unless dizziness develops, when a horizontal attitude

would be best).

Oxygen should be given if available.

If water was inhaled, encourage deep breathing and

coughing.

Monitor and record breathing and heart rate (neck /

carotid pulse) at 5 minute intervals for the first 15

minutes and then, if no change, at 15 minute

intervals. (An increasing breathing and/or heart rate

may indicate the onset of drowning complications -

and remember that in a severely hypothermic

person cardiac arrest can occur at any time.)


When alert and warm it is no longer necessary to

maintain a semi-horizontal or horizontal position.

Give warm sweet drinks – but no alcohol.

If the survivor’s condition deteriorates, refer to the treatment procedure for the unconscious patient, above. Treatment of people recovered from survival craft

Occupants who were exposed and dry for short durations (2-3 days), and are fully alert, may require treatment for mild hypothermia as described above for conscious immersion survivors.

Occupants who are wet and cold and less alert will require to be recovered in a semi-horizontal position and should be treated in the same way as immersion casualties at the same level of alertness.

Warm sweet drinks should be provided.

Obtain medical advice. Free advice may be obtained from a Telemedical Maritime Assistance Service (TMAS), which can be contacted via a Rescue Coordination Centre. The apparently dead

What to do with people recovered apparently dead, showing no signs of life and extremely cold to the touch, is a very difficult question.

In all probability they will indeed be dead, especially if there are witness reports from other survivors that they have been in that state for many hours.

If, however, there are no such witness reports, the assumption must be that they may be alive but suffering from extreme hypothermia; that is, the heart may still be working but at a very reduced level of activity such that the pulse cannot be felt and the eye pupils are widely dilated.

Always obtain medical advice as soon as possible. Free advice may be obtained from a Telemedical Maritime Assistance Service (TMAS), which can be contacted via a Rescue Coordination Centre.

The apparently dead should be:

Recovered horizontally if possible and handled as if

seriously ill.

The body should be gently placed in the recovery

position in a warm sheltered compartment, and well insulated.



page 9



If still alive, the body can re-warm very slowly at an

optimal rate to allow it to compensate, by itself, for

the major internal fluid changes that occurred during

the slow protracted cooling it endured.

Monitor and record pupil size and rectal temperature

at hourly intervals for 12 hours. If there is no change

and there are still no other signs of life, then it can be

assumed that the casualty is dead.

If, however, pupil size decreases then, possibly, the

casualty is alive: commence monitoring and

recording at 15 minute intervals, including checking

for pulse and breathing.

If any sign of life is detected treat as for the

unconscious immersion casualty. See above.

Summing up

The guidance in this article and in the two articles preceding it, in our April and June editions (which may be found on the IMRF website, www.international-maritime-rescue.org) has briefly explained how your body responds to cold, what you can do to help ward off its harmful effects and, finally, how to aid people recovered from the water or from survival craft. Let’s sum up with some important reminders about survival. Follow them, for your life, or someone else’s, may one day depend on them.

Plan your emergency moves in advance. Ask

yourself what you would do if an emergency arose.

Where is your nearest exit to the deck for escape?

Where is the nearest available immersion suit,

lifejacket, SART, emergency location beacon and

survival craft? How would you quickly get to your

foul weather gear, insulated clothing, gloves, etc?

Know how your survival equipment works. The

time of the emergency is not the time to learn.

Even in the tropics, before abandoning ship put on

many layers of clothing to offset the effects of

cold. Wear an immersion suit if available.

Put on a lifejacket as soon as possible in an

emergency situation – and adjust it correctly.

When abandoning ship, try to board the survival

craft dry without entering the water.

Take anti-seasickness medicine as soon as

possible.

If immersion in water is necessary, try to enter the

water gradually.

The initial response to immersion in cold water

will only last a few minutes: rest until you regain

control of your breathing. (This initial response will

not always occur, but is more likely with lower

water temperatures / less protection.)

Try to get as much of your body as you can out

of the water.

Swimming increases body heat loss. Only swim

to a safe refuge nearby if the likelihood of early

rescue is low and you are confident that you can

reach it. Swim on your back, using only your

legs if you can.

If trying to reach a floating object swim

downwind of it, letting the wind bring the object to

you.

If not swimming to a refuge, try to reduce your

body heat loss: float in the water with your legs

together, elbows to your side, and arms across

your chest.

If you are not wearing a lifejacket, do not wave

to attract attention. You will lose buoyancy if you

have no lifejacket.

Force yourself to have the will to survive. This

can make the difference between life and death.

Keep your mind occupied and focus on short term

objectives.

Do not over-exert yourself during the rescue

process: let the rescuers do the work – they are in

a better condition than you.

Even while being rescued, do not relax too soon.

Advance knowledge, planning, preparation and thought

on your part can be the most significant factors in your

survival – or in treating others who have been exposed

to the cold.


page 10

Sad news from Canada

The sea can bring good things (see “It

came by sea...”, left); but we all know that it will take as well.

On Sunday 3 June four members of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCM-SAR), from Station 12, Halfmoon Bay, were on a training mission when their vessel capsized in Skookumchuck Narrows, Sechelt Inlet. Two of the crew were assisted by another vessel in the area but, very sadly, crew members Angie Nemeth and Beatrice Sorensen lost their lives.

Randy Strandt, President of RCM-SAR, said: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of these brave women who gave their lives while training to save others. RCM-SAR have a simple mission, to save lives on the water; and today we are heartbroken to have lost two of our own. There is a deep sense of disbelief, shock, and sadness amongst our crews.

“We wish to thank the many people and agencies who came to assist, including boaters in the area, the Canadian Forces SAR crew, Ambulance crews, the Canadian Coast Guard, and the crews from RCM-SAR who were called upon to search for their colleagues and friends.

“Regardless of whether on sea, land or in the air, there are no boundaries in the SAR community, and this loss will be felt by all.”

On learning of the accident, those attending the IMRF’s mass rescue conference in Sweden stood in silence, as a mark of fellowship and respect.

Pictured above, 500 members of the emergency response community joined a similar number of family members and local people at a service in celebration of the two women’s lives, held in Sechelt on 17 June.

“It came by sea and I can’t live without it...”

That was the theme of this year’s ‘Day of the Seafarer’, organised by the IMO to highlight the positive influence seafarers have on our daily lives.

The IMO asked people around the globe to say “Thank you, seafarers” on Facebook, via tweets, by posting a video on YouTube, or by writing a blog.

25 June has come and gone; but we can still show seafarers our support. The links are:

www.facebook.com/SeafarerDay

www.facebook.com/IMOHQ

www.youtube.com/user/IMOHQ

Or follow @IMOHQ @SeafarerDay on Twitter.

News from the Virgin Islands

Back in 2008 the Board of Virgin Islands Search and Rescue (VISAR) decided it was time to replace the Virgin Gorda rescue boat with a new, bigger and updated vessel. As the Board were happy with the TP Marine rigid inflatable boat (RIB) that had been operating in Tortola for a year, a second boat was ordered from the Dutch company.

The new TP 780 arrived in Virgin Gorda in February 2010, after a few delays in manufacturing and shipping. Unfortunately, during high-speed rough weather training in June a crack developed in the boat’s engine bracket, causing her to take on water. TP Marine generously offered to build a new, upgraded boat in compensation.

2011 was, of course, a tough year financially for many. TP Marine were obliged to concentrate on building high-speed RIBs for the Royal Netherlands Navy. However, construction of the re-designed TP 880 began at last in October, and VISAR note that they have benefitted from the building methods used for the navy contract.

Highly successful sea trials took place in the Netherlands in May this year. VISAR were pleased to announce that “it’s everything we can dream of”.

With the new boat’s arrival in the islands this summer, Virgin Gorda will be better equipped to provide search and rescue faster and with much greater range.

DanGerEx 2012

In early June Danish and German SAR specialists met at the German Maritime SAR Service (DGzRS)’s training centre in Bremen for simulator training in preparation for a joint full-scale exercise to be conducted in the waters around Helgoland in October.

Guests from the Danish Navy, Home Defense, Rescue Corps Esbjerg, and Fishery Inspection, exercised together with DGzRS rescue cruiser crews, trainers and MRCC staff.

More about the October exercise in a future edition of LIFE LINE.


page 11

A drowning world

The map of the world above has been distorted in an effort to show the relative rates of drowning globally. It’s a sobering picture.

It coincides with the publication by UNICEF of their report Child Drowning – part of their Special

Series on Child Injury: see Linnan, Michael, et al (2012) ‘Child Drowning: Evidence for a newly recognized cause of child mortality in low and middle income countries in Asia’, Working Paper 2012-07, Florence: UNICEF Office of Research. The report may be downloaded from www.unicef-irc.org.

The authors report that “Drowning is a leading cause of death among children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Asia, but current data greatly underestimate mortality due to drowning.

“This is due to the way drowning data is collected, classified and reported as well as the difficulty in correcting and adjusting the data. The sum of all the biases and uncertainties has masked the fact that drowning is a leading cause of child death...

“Cost-effective, affordable and sustainable interventions appropriate for LMICs are available to address this newly recognized and significant killer of children. Large numbers of these deaths could be prevented...”

One of the report’s conclusions is that in Asian LMICs – the region contains two-thirds of the world’s children − drowning is an urgent health policy priority.

Some of the facts arising from the research are stark:

Most children drown before age four, and most child drowning occurs in rural areas

For children of all ages, 90% drown in sunny weather, 5% in rainy weather and 5% during flooding from monsoons

For children over age four, 95 per cent drown while engaging in non-recreational activities or daily activities

Ship or ferry accidents, and swimming pools, are not significant contributors to drowning deaths

For children aged 1 to 4 years, drowning is responsible for almost one out of every four deaths: for those aged 5-9 the figure is more than one in four

After infancy and through the rest of childhood, drowning is responsible for almost one out of five deaths from all causes.

The authors conclude that, “having established that drowning is a significant and preventable cause of death in children ... we need to focus on how this previously unidentified public health issue is transformed from a neglected matter into a one that is addressed by national, regional or global level programmes.”

The development community is now at the same place with drowning as it was with communicable diseases such as measles in the 1970s and ‘80s. Yet we know that there are cost-effective interventions against this leading killer − and that children who are taught to swim are protected for life. They also provide ‘herd immunity’ for their peers through their ability to rescue them when they are drowning.

“Now that we know drowning is as preventable as other leading causes of child death,” say the report’s authors, “It is time to act.

“It really is that simple.”

New Lifeboats

Both Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (the German maritime SAR service) and the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution have new lifeboats afloat.

The Harro Koebke’s naming ceremony took place on 26 May 2012 at her new home in Sassnitz on the island of Ruegen close to the Polish border, in an area of dense ferry traffic.

The new cruiser is 36.5m long, 2.70m draught, and has a speed of 25kts. Her jet-driven daughter craft Notarius exceeds 32kts and is designed to operate in shallow waters.

Meanwhile, the RNLI’s new fast carriage boat prototype is undergoing her final trials, designed to thoroughly test her hull, systems and equipment.

The trials include launch and recovery with the Supacat rig at various beach-launch locations; and will amount to the equivalent of four years’ operational service.

The prototype will go on to join the RNLI’s relief fleet. The first of the new class to go on station is scheduled to replace the 20-year-old Mersey class boat at Dungeness next summer.

You can follow the progress of the trials on Twitter: @LifeboatTrials.


page 12

LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE

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 [email protected].

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

AFRAS Awards 2012

Arthur von Pieschel, Branch Chief Caribbean of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, writes:

‘The AFRAS Caribbean Search and Rescue (CAR/SAR) Award was established in 2010 in an effort to expand recognition by the Association for Rescue at Sea to deserving efforts on the part of up-and-coming SAR organizations in the Caribbean Basin.

‘We now need nominations in order to make a selection for the 2012 AFRAS award. Nominations will be considered for rescues made on the water, where the persons rescued were truly in distress and the rescuers placed themselves at risk in making the rescue. Nominations should include particulars of time, place, units, personnel involved, weather, sea state, etc.’

If you would like to nominate a rescue for this important award, please contact Arthur at [email protected] or on +1 240 252 5644.

It’s an honour

Meet the IMRF’s first two Honorary Members. Gerry Keeling, formerly our Chief Executive Officer (right), has the additional honour of being the very first to attain this distinction – but Sip Wiebenga, who retired as an IMRF Trustee last year, does not seem to mind being number two! Our thanks and congratulations to both.

SAR at the sharp end

These days there are many miles of video footage available of SAR at sea – if digital images can be measured in miles... But it’s not very often that you see a rescue entirely from the casualty’s perspective.

Jonathan Cornelius, Director of Antigua & Barbuda SAR (ABSAR), has sent us a YouTube link which shows a rescue entirely from the point of view of one of the survivors.

The incident occurred on 26 June, when a 17 foot fishing boat with two persons aboard capsized 20 nm NE of Antigua. Their Mayday call was received by ABSAR, and by a nearby tanker, the Tromso – visible in the picture above. Tromso stood by the two men as they sat on the hull of their upturned boat, and relayed information to them by VHF radio, until they were picked up by the Guadeloupe rescue helicopter.

The video was shot by one of the survivors, John Watt, using a head-mount camera – which, as you can see, was still running as he was winched into the sky.

Something to give serious consideration to, as the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System is reviewed: why should we not have live video streams to help us in our work...?

The video may be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxLiw4L6xO4

(Please note that, in order to facilitate downloading of this newsletter, we do not use hyperlinks in the text. To view the video or use other links we provide, copy and paste the url into your search engine. Ed.)

lifeline august 2012 - english

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