The Macau Marine and Water Bureau joined forces with its Hong Kong and Guangdong counterparts for a three-sided operation that simulated a collision between a passenger vessel and a construction vessel.
The drill occurred yesterday morning at the Pearl River Estuary and involved a joint operation with simultaneous sea and air rescue missions.
During the exercise, rescue units were mobilized through the regional cooperation mechanism to collaborate in search and rescue operations, a drill designed to test and increase maritime search and rescue capacity and cooperation between the Macau, Hong Kong and Guangdong Province authorities.
The drill simulated several scenarios, including the need to extinguish an on-board fire as well as evacuate passengers from the ferry.
The drill also included the scenario of a person falling from the pneumatic raft and a person from the construction vessel falling into the sea.
The authorities said the exercise ran according to expectations and without problems.
The drill took about 2 hours with the 14 vessels participating, one helicopter and more than 130 people.
The same authorities said the type of drill chosen was related to the increase in the number of passenger and construction vessels that have been crossing in the area.
