MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UKOTs, including Falklands, in SAR workshop with exercise of cruise vessel incident

The Overseas Territories SAR (OTSAR) Capability Project has been running since 2016 and began with reviews of SAR capabilities within the UK OTs.

The annual SAR, workshop for UK Overseas Territories took place in Miami during the first week of February, with the purpose of sharing experiences and recognizing common challenges. The workshop was facilitated by HM Coastguard and funded by UK Government and referred to two main theatres of action, one involving a cruise ship and the other an aviation incident.

Attendees included SAR specialists, airport and aviation authorities and disaster managers from Anguilla, Ascension Island, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, St Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Falkland Islands which had a very demanding year with the loss of the Argos Georgia.

According to the release additional attendees included the Dutch Caribbean, French and US Coast Guard covering the regional response mechanisms and a number of Caribbean neighboring states: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. 

Presentations were given by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Lost & Missing Person Search International, and the Global SAR Hub. Updates on SAR matters were provided by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Regional Office, and the Joint SAR Working Group of ICAO and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Collaboration for mass rescue operations was the key focus and the workshop ran two tabletop exercise incidents, a cruise ship and an aviation accident.

The Overseas Territories SAR (OTSAR) Capability Project has been running since 2016 and began with reviews of SAR capabilities within the UK Overseas Territories. Since then, the project has provided equipment and training for SAR operations, operators and frontline responders.

The 11th SAR Workshop is planned again for February next year and returns to Miami.