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China Conducts Sea Mishap Rescuing Exercise
Marine Exercises Held for Oil Spills
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The exercise began at 8:00 Monday morning, with a three-thousand-tonne oil tanker running into a freighter. A fire started, crew members jumped into the sea, and the crude oil began leaking out, endangering the environment, fish breeding grounds, and tourist areas off the coast of Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macao.
After receiving the alarm, the China Maritime Search and Rescue Centre, alerted departments in Hong Kong and Macao, which immediately sent rescue teams. Two fire fighting ships and two helicopters rushed to the scene to put out the fire and rescue 12 crew members.
Meanwhile, a 3,000-metre-long oil-slick boom was deployed to prevent the crude oil from spreading. And oil recovery operations began immediately. More than 40 ships took part in the four-hour exercise.
A Maritime Affairs Bureau official said that China is the world's third largest carrier of crude oil and mishaps like this is highly probable. This exercise was meant to improve the ability of Chinese rescue personnel to deal with such accidents.
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