In 2016, border guards rescued 280 people in distress in the Gulf of Tonkin.

(Baonghean.vn) - In 2016, units coordinated to carry out search and rescue missions for 56 vehicles with 280 crew members in distress in the Gulf of Tonkin.

On the afternoon of April 10, in Vinh City, the Border Guard Commands of 9 provinces and cities from Quang Ninh to Quang Binh, Squadron 38 and the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center Region 1 held a conference to review search and rescue work at sea in 2016 and deploy tasks for 2017.

The sea area that the units in the coordination regulations are assigned to be in charge of is entirely in the Gulf of Tonkin. This is a sea area with rich fishing grounds, many local fishing vessels operating, many ports and domestic and international cargo transport routes, so the traffic of ships and boats in and out of the sea is bustling. This is also a sea area that is often affected by storms, tropical depressions, monsoons, thunderstorms, and fog, which hinder traffic and are prone to natural disasters, accidents, collisions, and oil spills at sea.

Nghe An Border Guard forces rescue fishing boat at night. Photo: Hai Thuong

In order to reduce human and vehicle damage when operating at sea, units and localities have focused on leading and directing the synchronous implementation of working measures and arranging the use of forces and vehicles to proactively coordinate search and rescue, contributing to the successful completion of assigned political tasks.

In 2016, the units mobilized 118 vehicles with over 2,000 officers and soldiers to participate in search and rescue missions, rescuing 56 vehicles with 280 crew members; coordinated with local authorities to call for and arrange storm shelter for nearly 160,000 ships with nearly 800,000 crew members; 27 foreign ships with 405 crew members, 426 tourist ships with over 2,000 workers...

In addition, the units coordinated with the regional center 1 to organize 8 propaganda campaigns on search and rescue work and provide first aid instructions for injured fishermen in coastal localities; distributed 1,430,000 leaflets and documents, propagated laws and ensured safety at sea.

At the conference, delegates also discussed and clarified a number of issues that remain unresolved in the implementation of search and rescue work, such as force deployment, information exchange between forces, determining the nature of the incident and policies, fuel, etc. to improve search and rescue work in the coming time./.

Hai Thuong