Marine mission success

A marine search and rescue exercise off the Geraldton marina earlier this month, in which the RAC helicopter worked with a range of emergency service crews, has been hailed a success by Geraldton police.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services Mid West region marine search and rescue exercise involved crews working together to find and assist an overturned vessel with four “victims”.

Also involved were volunteer marine rescue units from Geraldton, Kalbarri and Port Denison, as well as crews from St John Ambulance, the State Emergency Service, Geraldton police and the Department of Fisheries.

The rescue helicopter performed winching and retrieval drills from water, rafts and vessels, providing a vital opportunity to test equipment and deployment procedures.

Sergeant Nathan Good said the rescue went “very well”, with all four “victims” found and “rescued”.

He said it was a valuable opportunity for different emergency services units to liaise and improve communications.

“It’s good to have these operations where all these agencies are involved because we can get that synergy between organisations that we don’t always have,” he said. “Generally, the only time we get that is when there’s a significant incident, so these kinds of exercises help us form those relationships and keep us all on our toes.

“Police have the marine search and rescue co-ordination role, accessing resources and staffing and what-not from those other agencies.”