Foreign seafarer rescue and coordination between domestic authorities related to maritime search and rescue operations

Vietnam is such a country with multiple advantages in developing the marine economy and international maritime traffic, especially Khanh Hoa sea area with a strategic geographical location and an extremely convenient maritime traffic system that located on the international maritime route, therefore, it is a place with a large volume of international ships passing through, especially the sea routes from Southeast Asia to other countries in the world.

However, in recent years, the weather and climate conditions in our country's sea have had complex fluctuations. Although there have been many preventive measures, in reality, incidents at sea are inevitable. Due to subjective causes from humans and objective causes from natural conditions, accidents and incidents at sea have occurred and are increasing, causing great damage to people’s lives, vehicles, and property of seafarers. According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), every year, up to two hundred thousand people die from incidents at sea, of which about three-quarters die immediately when the ship sink,s and nearly one-quarter die after surviving for a period of time on rescue vehicles. In this situation, the task of effectively conducting the rescue operations at sea is extremely important.

Every year, Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (Vietnam MRCC) has successfully conducted rescue operations for foreign crew members in Vietnam's waters in general and Khanh Hoa's waters in particular. Deeply being aware of the importance of search and rescue operations at sea, the Vietnamese search and rescue force has constantly strived, learned, and accumulated experience to contribute to improving the ability to respond and save the lives of many international crew members in recent times. Each rescue operation is not simply an act to protect human lives but also a deep impression in the hearts of international crew friends, enhancing the position of Vietnam as a country with a sea, with a fleet of ships that has participated in many maritime organizations in the region and in the world.

Typical incidents and experiences learned in foreign crew rescue operations

The occupational accident on the WHITE SHARK vessel (Nationality: Marshall Islands; IMO number: 538064919) occurred on December 29, 2018, while the vessel was on its voyage to China, causing 04 crew members to suffer multiple injuries in different areas of their bodies. In particular, a crew member named Ritche Magbanua (Born in 1973; Nationality: Philippines) was seriously injured: a fractured left tibia, crushed left ribs, open wounds in the head and neck area that are currently bleeding profusely, which led him to poor health with a risk of death. The vessel requested medical assistance and took the crew members to Nha Trang for emergency treatment. Upon receiving the information, the duty official contacted the vessel directly to provide initial first aid instructions and requested the ship to immediately alter its course to Nha Trang with full speed. Simultaneously, the duty official promptly reported the incident and asked for instructions from Vietnam MRCC as well as coordinated with relevant authorities to support the vessel. Upon receiving the dispatch order, the SAR 27-01 vessel immediately departed to rescue the 4 crew members in distress from the WHITE SHARK vessel. BY 09:55 on December 30, 2018, the SAR 27-01 rescued the 4 crew members and brought them safely to Nha Trang Port and urgently took them to the hospital for timely medical treatment.

*The experience learned from the above incident is necessary to improve the first aid skills of the medical team working directly on the rescue vessels as well as to train the medical equipment to be used in cases where many crew members are in distress. Specifically, in the above incident, the medical team of the SAR 27-01 vessel used a metal splint to fix the fracture, so the first aid operation was faster. In addition, each individual in the medical team has good medical skills; therefore, they could operate completely independently when performing first aid at the same time for 4 crew members in distress on the WHITE SHARK vessel.

Another incident, in May 2022, the vessel ALPHA AFOVOS (Nationality: Greece, Call Sign: SZSJ) was on its voyage from Indonesia to China with 02 crew members suffering from an occupational accident which led to multiple injuries to their heads, right flank, and hands. The wounds were all deep and bleeding profusely. The vessel ALPHA AFOVOS altered its course to Nha Trang for timely emergency treatment. The captain requested urgent rescue. Immediately upon receiving the information, the duty official of Nhatrang MRCC contacted the vessel ALPHA AFOVOS directly to update the crew members' condition, silmutaneously, coordinated with relevant local authorities: Nha Trang Maritime Administration, Nha Trang Border Guard Station, Khanh Hoa Provincial International Health Quarantine Center, Khanh Hoa Provincial Border Guard Command to take timely support measures for the crew members on board and make a plan to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic as per regulations. After reaching an agreement with the captain of the ALPHA AFOVOS, Nhatrang MRCC proposed to dispatch the SAR 27-01 to conduct the rescue operations at 2:30 p.m. on May 16, 2022. Experience from previous similar incidents helped the rescue force promptly and effectively conduct rescue operations, safely bringing 02 crew members to Nhatrang MRCC’s port, where 02 crew members were handed over to the vessel’s agent to be treated at Vinmec International General Hospital.

*From this incident, one of the shared experiences is the importance of close coordination between local forces such as Nha Trang Maritime Administration, 115 Emergency Center, Nha Trang Border Guard, especially Khanh Hoa International Health Quarantine Center, in the context of the strong outbreak of Covid-19. This coordination in maritime search and rescue operations is carried out effectively based on the Regulations on coordination of maritime search and rescue signed between the parties to ensure that the rescue plan is implemented smoothly and quickly, saving lives of the victims at sea.

Another notable incident occurred at 15:00 on June 5, 2023, the vessel TAMPA (Nationality: Liberia; call sign: 5LIM4) was on its voyage from China to Singapore. At the sea area about 81 nautical miles southeast of Nha Trang, the captain of the vessel TAMPA (Full name: Tzamalis Spyridon, born in 1957 - Nationality: Greece) had a cough, fever, difficulty breathing, high heart rate, and high blood pressure. The vessel decided to alter its course to Nha Trang and requested an urgent rescue. Nhatrang MRCC implemented a rescue plan for the crew, proposed to mobilize the SAR 273 vessel, and coordinated with local authorities to agree on the optimal rescue plan to support the crew. However, in this incident, the difficulty for the search and rescue team was approaching the vessel TAMPA, one of the largest cargo ships in the world (30,000 tons), the vessel's freeboard was high, while the patient's health condition was deteriorating. The SAR 273’s force used the "Support Kit for transferring victims from high-altitude ships". This toolkit is a technical innovation implemented by the Rescue Boat Crew to help improve efficiency in on-scene access.

To improve the effectiveness of rescue operations and share experiences between units, Nhatrang MRCC has implemented many forms:

* Conferences: Periodically organize preliminary conferences with the participation of representatives of local coordinating authorities to draw experience from real incidents, discuss complex rescue situations, and propose solutions to improve efficiency.

* Training and exercises: Regularly organize and participate in training courses, joint exercises between domestic and foreign forces, simulating real rescue operations. This is an opportunity for duty officials and crew members to practice, improve coordination, and learn from each other's experiences.

* Sharing information through internal communication channels: Experiences learned, advanced examples in rescue operations are widely shared on electronic information pages and internal newsletters of units.

* Applying technical innovation initiatives and using application software in search and rescue operations: Encourage duty officials to research and come up with initiatives in their work. Typically, the initiative "Toolkit to support transferring victims from high-altitude ships" was recognized in 2018, and the initiative "English receiving and processing distress information training by video" was recognized in 2023. These are two outstanding initiatives in the past that have been directly applied by duty officials and crew members of Nhatrang MRCC in the process of receiving information and approaching foreign vessels at the scene. In addition, duty officials and crew members always promote the spirit of learning, practice professional skills, and flexibly apply scientific and technological applications in search and rescue operations.

The experiences learned from the above rescue activities are not only a testament to the continuous efforts of the search and rescue forces in the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre’s system with the motto: Professionalism, Timeliness, Efficiency, Accuracy and Human life is paramount, but also affirm the position of Vietnam as a responsible country, the obligations of coastal countries according to the 1979 International Convention on Search and Rescue at Sea (SAR 79) of which Vietnam is a member. Vietnam's prompt, timely, and humane rescue operation not only demonstrates the responsibility of a member country of international maritime organizations but also contributes to building a good image of Vietnam in the eyes of international friends.

Rescue operation of the crew member of the vessel WHITE SHARK

Rescue operation of 02 crew members of the vessel ALPHA AFOVOS

Rescue operation of the captain of the vessel TAMPA