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Created on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 20:24
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This is the Dutch Coast Guard conducting a ‘helicopter rescue’ drill with cruise ship M/S Black Watch on July 15, 2010 over the North Sea area. Actually, I wasn’t there at deck – 6 pool aft part of the ship when the drill took place. I should have been there but regretfully I totally missed this whole action. I did not know in advance that a drill was to take place; Black Watch was just randomly selected among several ships in transit over the North Sea area. Anyway, thanks to our tour manager for the photos I posted here. She’s so openhanded to share her remarkable shots to our safety officer which in turned shared the photos to me.
Ships in the open seas these days are no longer limited of emergency assistance most especially in times of urgent medical support. From my point of view, this type of rescue assistance in most cases presents greater advantage to the ever increasing number of fleets in the cruise industry. An officer on a cruise ship myself, the probability of evacuating a person (crew or passenger) to shore for immediate medical assistance is always imminent and the level of preparedness in both parties to handle such situation is always made sure to be maintained at top level at all times.
While in the open seas and far from shore, the only option for fast transfer of patient, casualty or whatever it may be is through helicopter only. If the ship is transiting in the European waters, helicopter rescue or helicopter evacuation or helicopter transfer is not a problem. But in some parts of the world especially cruise ships transiting in the territorial waters of a developing or third world nation, certainties of efficient, fast and reliable helicopter rescue could be dubious. I am not saying that all third world countries are incapable or less efficient to undertake this kind of rescue operation. There could be some countries out there that could even respond much better or match the level of preparedness of the Dutch Coast Guard. Do you agree?
