Search-and-res­cue ope­ra­ti­ons in Spits­ber­gen: slight increase, but altog­e­ther nor­mal

Sys­sel­man­nen and local Red Cross have docu­men­ted a slight increase in the num­bers of search-and-res­cue ope­ra­ti­ons (SAR) in Spits­ber­gen. The num­ber has recent­ly been near 80 per year, inclu­ding evacua­tions of crew mem­bers from fishing ves­sels. The­re are cases whe­re the res­cue ser­vices are cal­led in, as it seems, situa­tions whe­re it should not have been neces­sa­ry, such as the recent case of two ski tra­vel­lers who had com­ple­ted less than 10 % of their inten­ded rou­te, but were too exhaus­ted to con­ti­nue even in good con­di­ti­ons. The Sys­sel­man­nen reminds ever­y­bo­dy of the importance of good pre­pa­ra­ti­on and their own respon­si­bi­li­ty for indi­vi­du­al safe­ty.

Altog­e­ther, howe­ver, the use of SAR capa­ci­ties is well within the frame of what they have been cal­cu­la­ted and estab­lished for. The includes the recent Eas­ter weekend, when tra­di­tio­nal­ly a lot of peo­p­le tra­vel in the field. This is also due to the good wea­ther con­di­ti­ons.

Poten­ti­al major acci­dents which invol­ve a lar­ger num­ber of per­sons remain a worry. Local SAR capa­ci­ties are not suf­fi­ci­ent for such major acci­dents.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen

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