MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Infrastructure and equipment: The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is ready to respond to water-related emergencies all day, 365 days a year.
For its crews to perform their life-saving work safely and effectively, they rely on excellent equipment, modern, up-to-date technology and efficiently-run rescue bases to launch from.
The NSRI currently has an active fleet of more than 100 rescue vessels used for a wide range of call-outs – from JetRIBs for surf and inshore rescues to new 14.8m Offshore Rescue Craft (ORC) for emergencies far out to sea.
At the NSRI bases, there are ATVs and quad bikes to access casualties quickly.
Volunteer training
Volunteer crews are required to achieve, master and maintain a wide range of skills to perform their lifesaving work in diverse scenarios.
To achieve this, each station hosts regular training sessions for its crew.
The NSRI training team visits each station at least once a year to perform on-site training and holds regular structured three-day training courses, including coxswain assessment courses, at the training academy in Cape Town.
Emergency operations centre and rescue communications
The NSRI's emergency operations centre (EOC) went live in July 2019. Based at the NSRI head office in Cape Town, the EOC has seven full-time operators, who man the emergency lines 24/7.
The centre provides a single point of contact for incoming emergency calls, including 112, and is the first point of call for port control, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and other emergency call centres.
Drowning prevention
The NSRI's water safety education programme in schools was started in 2006 with two instructors. There are now more than 20 full-time instructors, some of whom also teach survival swimming.
The focus is on teaching people throughout South Africa to be safe in and around water, especially children under the age of 14, who are most vulnerable.
Since 2013 the Drowning Prevention Department has expanded rapidly and now has its own executive director.
The department's focus is still on teaching water safety and survival swimming (which was launched in 2020) and it has expanded to include innovative projects such as the pink rescue buoys, survival swimming centres, beach safety cameras and a research and advocacy stream.
Animal Rescue
Sea Rescue's mandate to save lives on South African waters extends to animals as well. A host of turtles, seals, birds and whales have been assisted in a variety of rescue operations.
These rescues extend to man's best friend too, with a number of dogs being saved from drowning.
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