Saving the Shipwrecked
HM Coastguard today
HM Coastguard is a very busy organisation. Even with modern
safety equipment, such as radio and satellite navigation, they are
still called upon to rescue sailors and vessels in trouble. As part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), they
initiate and co-ordinate Civil Maritime Search and Rescue
operations within the UK Search and Rescue Region from nineteen
rescue centres located around the UK coastline. In 2001, HM Coastguard were called out to over 12,500 incidents
in UK waters - on average that`s 240 every week. They were able to
give help in 7200 cases. Unfortunately, 206 of these calls were
hoaxes. Machinery and equipment failure, the inability to cope when the
weather worsens, diving incidents are the major causes of
search-and-rescue incidents. Coastguards are not always called out
to actual incidents - sailors failing to tell people ashore where
they are going and when they are due back accounts for a sizeable
proportion of Coastguard call-outs. Coastguard vessels helped nearly 16,500 people at sea in 2001.
Common incidents include man-overboard, divers and swimmers getting
into trouble, searches for missing people, persons cut off by tides
or stuck on cliffs. They rescued almost 5000 people from stricken
vessels. 284 lives were lost in their rescue attempts. This data comes from the Maritime Coastguard Agency. For more
information, see www.transtat.dft.gov.uk.
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