With continuous emphasis on 'all disasters, big emergency' in the reform of the emergency management system, in the process of actively promoting the modernization of the emergency management system and capabilities, the teams' construction in various fields has been gradually improved. Water Rescue and Recovery has also become one of the important components of social emergency response force construction.
Underwater search and rescue/recovery operations are high-risk. Most of the 'frogmen' who perform tasks operate in the claustrophobic and dark underwater. Their top priority is to rescue lives in distress and ensure property safety. They use knowledge and skills in a planned way and perform rescue missions efficiently. The frogmen who carry out search and rescue/recovery diving are also tempered in the mission and have been continuously grown, becoming a powerful force in diving area.
Different from the characteristics of 'minimizing risk and maximizing entertainment' in recreational diving, search and rescue/recovery diving often has the characteristics of 'suddenly, extremely, complicated, and dangerous'. In order to meet the challenges of water areas natural environments, frogmen have to deal with possible emergencies during the rescue process and the psychological pressure that may be brought about during the operation.
How difficult is search and rescue/recovery diving Operations? Search and rescue/recovery diving operations are often not single-person operations, but rely more on the strength of the team. When encountering complex rescue operations, it even requires a lot of manpower, material resources and time, and sometimes requires the assistance of international rescue forces. However, even in the case of huge investment, it is not fully guaranteed that the rescue operation will be successful.
On October 4, 2010, Eric Establie, a famous French cave diver and explorer, went alone to explore the difficult cave Dragonnière de Gaud near Labastide de Virac in the Ardèche region of France but not returned. The rescue operation has attracted great attention, involving the French government, the French rescue team and the British rescue team. Although the rescue operation persisted for more than 70 days under pressure, the dangerous environment and limited effect excavation prevented the rescue team from taking Eric out of the cave.
Source from: Geoforum
In June 2018, a total of 13 Thai youth football teams and their coaches were trapped in the Cave (Tham Luang) in Chiang Mai. Experts, medical personnel, engineering companies, rescue teams, etc., in addition to the Thai government, Myanmar, the United States (including the military), the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, EU countries, Russia, Israel, China, Japan, India, etc. Teams from more than 20 countries worked side by side, came to the rescue site to assist and provide assistance, and finally rescued them all within 18 days.
Source from : ELLE HK
On July 9, 2023, 5 people lost contact while diving in the waters where Needlehead Rock is located 18.5 nautical miles southeast of Daxing Mountain in Huidong, Huizhou. Under the organization of the Huizhou Maritime Emergency Search and Rescue Center, 13 boats and 180 people have successively arrived in the waters where the incident occurred, and the search area exceeds 150 square kilometers. After 6 hours of emergency rescue, all 5 divers were rescued 12 hours after they lost contact.
The above few examples give a glimpse of the difficulties of search and rescue/recovery diving. Search and rescue/recovery diving is a science that requires divers to have professional qualities and skills. In other words, diving does not directly equal rescue, that is, 'being able to dive does not mean being able to rescue!'
The search and rescue/recovery diving team needs to have the capabilities of action plan, action management, underwater search, rescue and salvage, medical treatment, self-protection, etc., and is divided into diving Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 according to different countries' requirement.
In the overall search and rescue/recovery diving operation, the first consideration should be the safety of oneself. On the basis of ensuring the safety of divers, the teaching and training should be scientific, and the operation and execution should be standardized.
Shenzhen Zhilan Technology Co., Ltd（Ocean Plan) , as one of the members of the 'China Diving and Salvage Industry Association', always pays attention to the emergency rescue and public safety of the society. Ocean Plan focuses on the field of underwater communication and navigation in order to continuously improve the comprehensive rescue capability in water areas, ensure the safety of divers and the efficiency of group cooperation, and is involved in front-line diving rescue operations, to solidly promotes the construction of underwater rescue forces, and contributes to the development of underwater rescue.
The underwater communication and navigation system enables divers and divers, as well as between divers and surface commanders, to realize real-time position information feedback, target position navigation guidance, SOS emergency assistance, abnormal state warning and underwater wireless information transmission and other functions, which strengthens the team's level of underwater search positioning and communication. The underwater communication and navigation system also supports the function of remote image transmission, which ensures the capability of real-time information reporting and command reception in the search and rescue/recovery diving team, greatly strengthens the comprehensive strength of on-site command and management, effectively guarantees the safety of diving personnel, and improves collaborative efficiency in rescue operations activities.
For more info about underwater communication and navigation system, please reach to info@oceanplan.cn for more details.