On Wednesday July 5, three members of the Saint-Martin SNSM Station had the opportunity to take part in a “Mass Rescue Operation Table Top Exercise” organized by Anguilla Fire & Rescue Service (AFRS) and Anguilla Air and Sea Port Authority (AASPA).
The exercise took place in one of the large meeting rooms at the terminal at Blowing Point Port in the presence of about XNUMX officials from all Anguilla organizations (Government, private and public sector), ferry operators, as well as the Coast Guards of Sint Maarten and the SNSM of Saint-Martin.
This first phase gave rise to a theoretical exercise only, which will be followed by a real exercise organized towards the end of the year.
The scenario of the disaster is as follows: a ferry with many passengers on board has just been accidentally hit by a private motor boat halfway between Anguilla and Saint-Martin.
The boat capsizes and the ferry has a large leak and sinks as passengers board the life rafts. There are nearly 100 people involved, several victims are to be deplored, as well as injured people who fell into the water. They must be recovered as quickly as possible and evacuated to one of the two islands and at the same time carry out searches to find the people who have disappeared at sea.
The usefulness of this exercise which lasted more than 3 hours is to test the responsiveness of each entity (Government and private sector) if one day a major accident at sea were to occur between the two islands as well as to identify the axes of improvement, clarify the role and responsibilities of each participant.
The members of the SNSM of Saint Martin thank the AFRS and the AASPA for having invited them for this exercise, as well as the Coast Guards of Sint Maarten for having brought them back to the quay of the Marina Fort Louis on their return from Anguilla.
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